Questions

1.
What are the components of physical database structure of

Oracle database?
Oracle database is comprised of three types of files. One or more
datafiles, two are more redo log files, and one or more control files.
2. What are the components of logical database structure of

Oracle database?
There are tablespaces and database's schema objects.
3. What is a tablespace?
A database is divided into Logical Storage Unit called tablespaces. A
tablespace is used to grouped related logical structures together.
4. What is SYSTEM tablespace and when is it created?

Every Oracle database contains a tablespace named SYSTEM, which is
automatically created when the database is created. The SYSTEM
tablespace always contains the data dictionary tables for the entire
database.
5. Explain the relationship among database, tablespace and

data file.
Each databases logically divided into one or more tablespaces one or
more data files are explicitly created for each tablespace.
6. What is schema?
A schema is collection of database objects of a user.
7. What are Schema Objects?

Schema objects are the logical structures that directly refer to the
database's data. Schema objects include tables, views, sequences,
synonyms, indexes, clusters, database triggers, procedures, functions
packages and database links.
8. Can objects of the same schema reside in different

tablespaces?
Yes.
9. Can a tablespace hold objects from different schemes?

Yes.
10. What is Oracle table?

A table is the basic unit of data storage in an Oracle database. The
tables of a database hold all of the user accessible data. Table data is
stored in rows and columns.
11. What is an Oracle view?
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A view is a virtual table. Every view has a query attached to it. (The
query is a SELECT statement that identifies the columns and rows of
the table(s) the view uses.)
11. What is Partial Backup ?
A Partial Backup is any operating system backup short of a full backup,
taken while the database is open or shut down.
12. What is Mirrored on-line Redo Log ?

A mirrored on-line redo log consists of copies of on-line redo log files
physically located on separate disks, changes made to one member of
the group are made to all members.
13. What is Full Backup ?

A full backup is an operating system backup of all data files, on-line
redo log files and control file that constitute ORACLE database and the
parameter.
14. Can a View based on another View ?

Yes.
15. Can a Tablespace hold objects from different Schemes ?

Yes.
16. Can objects of the same Schema reside in different

tablespaces.?
Yes.
17. What is the use of Control File ?

When an instance of an ORACLE database is started, its control file is
used to identify the database and redo log files that must be opened
for database operation to proceed. It is also used in database recovery.
18. Do View contain Data ?

Views do not contain or store data.
19. What are the Referential actions supported by FOREIGN

KEY integrity constraint ?
UPDATE and DELETE Restrict - A referential integrity rule that disallows
the update or deletion of referenced data. DELETE Cascade - When a
referenced row is deleted all associated dependent rows are deleted.
20. What are the type of Synonyms?

There are two types of Synonyms Private and Public.
21. What is a Redo Log ?
The set of Redo Log files YSDATE,UID,USER or USERENV SQL functions,
or the pseudo columns LEVEL or ROWNUM.
22. What is an Index Segment ?
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Each Index has an Index segment that stores all of its data.
23. Explain the relationship among Database, Tablespace and

Data file.?
Each databases logically divided into one or more tablespaces one or
more data files are explicitly created for each tablespace
24. What are the different type of Segments ?

Data Segment, Index Segment, Rollback Segment and Temporary
Segment.
25. What are Clusters ?

Clusters are groups of one or more tables physically stores together to
share common columns and are often used together.
26. What is an Integrity Constrains ?

An integrity constraint is a declarative way to define a business rule for
a column of a table.
27. What is an Index ?

An Index is an optional structure associated with a table to have direct
access to rows, which can be created to increase the performance of
data retrieval. Index can be created on one or more columns of a table.
28. What is an Extent ?

An Extent is a specific number of contiguous data blocks, obtained in a
single allocation, and used to store a specific type of information.
29. What is a View ?

A view is a virtual table. Every view has a Query attached to it. (The
Query is a SELECT statement that identifies the columns and rows of
the table(s) the view uses.)
30. What is Table ?

A table is the basic unit of data storage in an ORACLE database. The
tables of a database hold all of the user accessible data. Table data is
stored in rows and columns.
31. Can a view based on another view?
Yes.
32. What are the advantages of views?

- Provide an additional level of table security, by restricting access to a
predetermined set of rows and columns of a table.
- Hide data complexity.
- Simplify commands for the user.
- Present the data in a different perspective from that of the base
table.
- Store complex queries.
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33. What is an Oracle sequence?
A sequence generates a serial list of unique numbers for numerical
columns of a database's tables.
34. What is a synonym?

A synonym is an alias for a table, view, sequence or program unit.
35. What are the types of synonyms?

There are two types of synonyms private and public.
36. What is a private synonym?

Only its owner can access a private synonym.
37. What is a public synonym?

Any database user can access a public synonym.
38. What are synonyms used for?

- Mask the real name and owner of an object.
- Provide public access to an object
- Provide location transparency for tables, views or program units of a
remote database.
- Simplify the SQL statements for database users.
39. What is an Oracle index?

An index is an optional structure associated with a table to have direct
access to rows, which can be created to increase the performance of
data retrieval. Index can be created on one or more columns of a table.
40. How are the index updates?

Indexes are automatically maintained and used by Oracle. Changes to
table data are automatically incorporated into all relevant indexes.
41. What is a Tablespace?
A database is divided into Logical Storage Unit called tablespaces. A
tablespace is used to grouped related logical structures together
42. What is Rollback Segment ?

A Database contains one or more Rollback Segments to temporarily
store "undo" information.
43. What are the Characteristics of Data Files ?

A data file can be associated with only one database. Once created a
data file can't change size. One or more data files form a logical unit of
database storage called a tablespace.
44. How to define Data Block size ?

A data block size is specified for each ORACLE database when the
database is created. A database users and allocated free database
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space in ORACLE datablocks. Block size is specified in INIT.ORA file and
can’t be changed latter.
45. What does a Control file Contain ?

A Control file records the physical structure of the database. It contains
the following information.
Database Name
Names and locations of a database's files and redolog files.
Time stamp of database creation.
46.What is difference between UNIQUE constraint and

PRIMARY KEY constraint ?
A column defined as UNIQUE can contain Nulls while a column defined
as PRIMARY KEY can't contain Nulls.
47.What is Index Cluster ?

A Cluster with an index on the Cluster Key
48.When does a Transaction end ?

When it is committed or Rollbacked.
49. What is the effect of setting the value "ALL_ROWS" for

OPTIMIZER_GOAL parameter of the ALTER SESSION command ?
What are the factors that affect OPTIMIZER in choosing an
Optimization approach ?
Answer The OPTIMIZER_MODE initialization parameter Statistics in the
Data Dictionary the OPTIMIZER_GOAL parameter of the ALTER SESSION
command hints in the statement.
50. What is the effect of setting the value "CHOOSE" for

OPTIMIZER_GOAL, parameter of the ALTER SESSION
Command ?
The Optimizer chooses Cost_based approach and optimizes with the
goal of best throughput if statistics for atleast one of the tables
accessed by the SQL statement exist in the data dictionary. Otherwise
the OPTIMIZER chooses RULE_based approach.
51. How does one create a new database? (for DBA)
One can create and modify Oracle databases using the Oracle "dbca"
(Database Configuration Assistant) utility. The dbca utility is located in
the $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory. The Oracle Universal Installer (oui)
normally starts it after installing the database server software.
One can also create databases manually using scripts. This option,
however, is falling out of fashion, as it is quite involved and error
prone. Look at this example for creating and Oracle 9i database:
CONNECT SYS AS SYSDBA
ALTER SYSTEM SET DB_CREATE_FILE_DEST='/u01/oradata/';
ALTER SYSTEM SET DB_CREATE_ONLINE_LOG_DEST_1='/u02/oradata/';
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ALTER SYSTEM SET DB_CREATE_ONLINE_LOG_DEST_2='/u03/oradata/';
CREATE DATABASE;
52. What database block size should I use? (for DBA)

Oracle recommends that your database block size match, or be
multiples of your operating system block size. One can use smaller
block sizes, but the performance cost is significant. Your choice should
depend on the type of application you are running. If you have many
small transactions as with OLTP, use a smaller block size. With fewer
but larger transactions, as with a DSS application, use a larger block
size. If you are using a volume manager, consider your "operating
system block size" to be 8K. This is because volume manager products
use 8K blocks (and this is not configurable).
53. What are the different approaches used by Optimizer in

choosing an execution plan ?
Rule-based and Cost-based.
54. What does ROLLBACK do ?

ROLLBACK retracts any of the changes resulting from the SQL
statements in the transaction.
How does one coalesce free space?(for DBA)

SMON coalesces free space (extents) into larger, contiguous extents
every 2 hours and even then, only for a short period of time.
SMON will not coalesce free space if a tablespace's default storage
parameter "pctincrease" is set to 0. With Oracle 7.3 one can manually
coalesce a tablespace using the ALTER TABLESPACE ... COALESCE;
command, until then use:
SQL> alter session set events 'immediate trace name coalesce level n';
Where 'n' is the tablespace number you get from SELECT TS#, NAME
FROM SYS.TS$;
You can get status information about this process by selecting from the
SYS.DBA_FREE_SPACE_COALESCED dictionary view.
55. How does one prevent tablespace fragmentation? (for DBA)

Always set PCTINCREASE to 0 or 100.
Bizarre values for PCTINCREASE will contribute to fragmentation. For
example if you set PCTINCREASE to 1 you will see that your extents are
going to have weird and wacky sizes: 100K, 100K, 101K, 102K, etc.
Such extents of bizarre size are rarely re-used in their entirety.
PCTINCREASE of 0 or 100 gives you nice round extent sizes that can
easily be reused. Eg. 100K, 100K, 200K, 400K, etc.
Thiru Vadivelu contributed the following:
Use the same extent size for all the segments in a given tablespace.
Locally Managed tablespaces (available from 8i onwards) with uniform
extent sizes virtually eliminates any tablespace fragmentation. Note
that the number of extents per segment does not cause any
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performance issue anymore, unless they run into thousands and
thousands where additional I/O may be required to fetch the additional
blocks where extent maps of the segment are stored.
56. Where can one find the high water mark for a table? (for
DBA)
There is no single system table, which contains the high water mark
(HWM) for a table. A table's HWM can be calculated using the results
from the following SQL statements:
SELECT BLOCKS
FROM DBA_SEGMENTS
WHERE OWNER=UPPER(owner) AND SEGMENT_NAME = UPPER(table);
ANALYZE TABLE owner.table ESTIMATE STATISTICS;
SELECT EMPTY_BLOCKS
FROM DBA_TABLES
WHERE OWNER=UPPER(owner) AND SEGMENT_NAME = UPPER(table);
Thus, the tables' HWM = (query result 1) - (query result 2) - 1
NOTE: You can also use the DBMS_SPACE package and calculate the
HWM = TOTAL_BLOCKS - UNUSED_BLOCKS - 1.
57. What is COST-based approach to optimization ?

Considering available access paths and determining the most efficient
execution plan based on statistics in the data dictionary for the tables
accessed by the statement and their associated clusters and indexes.
58. What does COMMIT do ?

COMMIT makes permanent the changes resulting from all SQL
statements in the transaction. The changes made by the SQL
statements of a transaction become visible to other user sessions
transactions that start only after transaction is committed.
59. How are extents allocated to a segment? (for DBA)

Oracle8 and above rounds off extents to a multiple of 5 blocks when
more than 5 blocks are requested. If one requests 16K or 2 blocks
(assuming a 8K block size), Oracle doesn't round it up to 5 blocks, but
it allocates 2 blocks or 16K as requested. If one asks for 8 blocks,
Oracle will round it up to 10 blocks.
Space allocation also depends upon the size of contiguous free space
available. If one asks for 8 blocks and Oracle finds a contiguous free
space that is exactly 8 blocks, it would give it you. If it were 9 blocks,
Oracle would also give it to you. Clearly Oracle doesn't always round
extents to a multiple of 5 blocks.
The exception to this rule is locally managed tablespaces. If a
tablespace is created with local extent management and the extent
size is 64K, then Oracle allocates 64K or 8 blocks assuming 8K-block
size. Oracle doesn't round it up to the multiple of 5 when a tablespace
is locally managed.
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60. Can one rename a database user (schema)? (for DBA)
No, this is listed as Enhancement Request 158508. Workaround:
Do a user-level export of user A
create new user B
Import system/manager fromuser=A touser=B
Drop user A
61. Define Transaction ?
A Transaction is a logical unit of work that comprises one or more SQL
statements executed by a single user.
62. What is Read-Only Transaction ?

A Read-Only transaction ensures that the results of each query
executed in the transaction are consistant with respect to the same
point in time.
63. What is a deadlock ? Explain .

Two processes wating to update the rows of a table which are locked
by the other process then deadlock arises. In a database environment
this will often happen because of not issuing proper row lock
commands. Poor design of front-end application may cause this
situation and the performance of server will reduce drastically.
These locks will be released automatically when a commit/rollback
operation performed or any one of this processes being killed
externally.
64. What is a Schema ?

The set of objects owned by user account is called the schema.
65. What is a cluster Key ?

The related columns of the tables are called the cluster key. The
cluster key is indexed using a cluster index and its value is stored only
once for multiple tables in the cluster.
66. What is Parallel Server ?

Multiple instances accessing the same database (Only In Multi-CPU
environments)
67. What are the basic element of Base configuration of an

oracle Database ?
It consists of
one or more data files.
one or more control files.
two or more redo log files.
The Database contains
multiple users/schemas
one or more rollback segments
one or more tablespaces
Data dictionary tables
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User objects (table,indexes,views etc.,)
The server that access the database consists of
SGA (Database buffer, Dictionary Cache Buffers, Redo log buffers,
Shared SQL pool)
SMON (System MONito)
PMON (Process MONitor)
LGWR (LoG Write)
DBWR (Data Base Write)
ARCH (ARCHiver)
CKPT (Check Point)
RECO
Dispatcher
User Process with associated PGS
68. What is clusters ?
Group of tables physically stored together because they share common
columns and are often used together is called Cluster.
69. What is an Index ? How it is implemented in Oracle

Database ?
An index is a database structure used by the server to have direct
access of a row in a table. An index is automatically created when a
unique of primary key constraint clause is specified in create table
comman (Ver 7.0)
70. What is a Database instance ? Explain

A database instance (Server) is a set of memory structure and
background processes that access a set of database files.
The process can be shared by all users. The memory structure that are
used to store most queried data from database. This helps up to
improve database performance by decreasing the amount of I/O
performed against data file.
71. WWhat is the use of ANALYZE command ?

To perform one of these function on an index,table, or cluster:
- To collect statistics about object used by the optimizer and store
them in the data dictionary.
- To delete statistics about the object used by object from the data
dictionary.
- To validate the structure of the object.
- To identify migrated and chained rows of the table or cluster.
72. What is default tablespace ?

The Tablespace to contain schema objects created without specifying a
tablespace name.
73. What are the system resources that can be controlled

through Profile ?
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The number of concurrent sessions the user can establish the CPU
processing time available to the user's session the CPU processing
time available to a single call to ORACLE made by a SQL statement the
amount of logical I/O available to the user's session the amout of
logical I/O available to a single call to ORACLE made by a SQL
statement the allowed amount of idle time for the user's session the
allowed amount of connect time for the user's session.
74. What is Tablespace Quota ?

The collective amount of disk space available to the objects in a
schema on a particular tablespace.
76. What are the different Levels of Auditing ?

Statement Auditing, Privilege Auditing and Object Auditing.
77. What is Statement Auditing ?

Statement auditing is the auditing of the powerful system privileges
without regard to specifically named objects.
78. What are the database administrators utilities avaliable ?
SQL * DBA - This allows DBA to monitor and control an ORACLE
database. SQL * Loader - It loads data from standard operating system
files (Flat files) into ORACLE database tables. Export (EXP) and Import
(imp) utilities allow you to move existing data in ORACLE format to and
from ORACLE database.
79. How can you enable automatic archiving ?

Shut the database
Backup the database
Modify/Include LOG_ARCHIVE_START_TRUE in init.ora file.
Start up the database.
80. What are roles? How can we implement roles ?

Roles are the easiest way to grant and manage common privileges
needed by different groups of database users. Creating roles and
assigning provides to roles. Assign each role to group of users. This will
simplify the job of assigning privileges to individual users.
81. What are Roles ?

Roles are named groups of related privileges that are granted to users
or other roles.
82. What are the use of Roles ?

REDUCED GRANTING OF PRIVILEGES - Rather than explicitly granting
the same set of privileges to many users a database administrator can
grant the privileges for a group of related users granted to a role and
then grant only the role to each member of the group.
DYNAMIC PRIVILEGE MANAGEMENT - When the privileges of a group
must change, only the privileges of the role need to be modified. The
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security domains of all users granted the group's role automatically
reflect the changes made to the role.
SELECTIVE AVAILABILITY OF PRIVILEGES - The roles granted to a user
can be selectively enable (available for use) or disabled (not available
for use). This allows specific control of a user's privileges in any given
situation.
APPLICATION AWARENESS - A database application can be designed to
automatically enable and disable selective roles when a user attempts
to use the application.
83. What is Privilege Auditing ?

Privilege auditing is the auditing of the use of powerful system
privileges without regard to specifically named objects.
84. What is Object Auditing ?

Object auditing is the auditing of accesses to specific schema objects
without regard to user.
85. What is Auditing ?

Monitoring of user access to aid in the investigation of database use.
85. How does one see the uptime for a database? (for DBA
Look at the following SQL query:
SELECT to_char (startup_time,'DD-MON-YYYY HH24: MI: SS') "DB
Startup Time"
FROM sys.v_$instance;
Marco Bergman provided the following alternative solution:
SELECT to_char (logon_time,'Dy dd Mon HH24: MI: SS') "DB Startup
Time"
FROM sys.v_$session
WHERE Sid=1 /* this is pmon */
/
Users still running on Oracle 7 can try one of the following queries:
Column STARTED format a18 head 'STARTUP TIME'
Select C.INSTANCE,
to_date (JUL.VALUE, 'J')
|| to_char (floor (SEC.VALUE/3600), '09')
|| ':'
-- || Substr (to_char (mod (SEC.VALUE/60, 60), '09'), 2, 2)
|| Substr (to_char (floor (mod (SEC.VALUE/60, 60)), '09'), 2, 2)
|| '.'
|| Substr (to_char (mod (SEC.VALUE, 60), '09'), 2, 2) STARTED
from SYS.V_$INSTANCE JUL,
SYS.V_$INSTANCE SEC,
SYS.V_$THREAD C
Where JUL.KEY like '%JULIAN%'
and SEC.KEY like '%SECOND%';
Select to_date (JUL.VALUE, 'J')
|| to_char (to_date (SEC.VALUE, 'SSSSS'), ' HH24:MI:SS') STARTED
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from SYS.V_$INSTANCE JUL,
SYS.V_$INSTANCE SEC
where JUL.KEY like '%JULIAN%'
select to_char (to_date (JUL.VALUE, 'J') + (SEC.VALUE/86400), -Return a
DATE
'DD-MON-YY HH24:MI:SS') STARTED
from V$INSTANCE JUL,
V$INSTANCE SEC
where JUL.KEY like '%JULIAN%'
86. Where are my TEMPFILES, I don't see them in V$DATAFILE

or DBA_DATA_FILE? (for DBA
Tempfiles, unlike normal datafiles, are not listed in v$datafile or
dba_data_files. Instead query v$tempfile or dba_temp_files:
SELECT * FROM v$tempfile;
SELECT * FROM dba_temp_files;
87. How do I find used/free space in a TEMPORARY tablespace?

(for DBA
Unlike normal tablespaces, true temporary tablespace information is
not listed in DBA_FREE_SPACE. Instead use the
V$TEMP_SPACE_HEADER view:
SELECT tablespace_name, SUM (bytes used), SUM (bytes free)
FROM V$temp_space_header
GROUP BY tablespace_name;
88. What is a profile ?

Each database user is assigned a Profile that specifies limitations on
various system resources available to the user.
89. How will you enforce security using stored procedures?

Don't grant user access directly to tables within the application.
Instead grant the ability to access the procedures that access the
tables. When procedure executed it will execute the privilege of
procedures owner. Users cannot access tables except via the
procedure.
90. How can one see who is using a temporary segment? (for
DBA
For every user using temporary space, there is an entry in
SYS.V$_LOCK with type 'TS'.
All temporary segments are named 'ffff.bbbb' where 'ffff' is the file it is
in and 'bbbb' is first block of the segment. If your temporary
tablespace is set to TEMPORARY, all sorts are done in one large
temporary segment. For usage stats, see SYS.V_$SORT_SEGMENT
From Oracle 8.0, one can just query SYS.v$sort_usage. Look at these
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examples:
select s.username, u."USER", u.tablespace, u.contents, u.extents,
u.blocks
from sys.v_$session s, sys.v_$sort_usage u
where s.addr = u.session_addr
/
select s.osuser, s.process, s.username, s.serial#,
Sum (u.blocks)*vp.value/1024 sort_size
from sys.v_$session s, sys.v_$sort_usage u, sys.v_$parameter VP
where s.saddr = u.session_addr
and vp.name = 'db_block_size'
and s.osuser like '&1'
group by s.osuser, s.process, s.username, s.serial#, vp.value
/
91. How does one get the view definition of fixed views/tables?
Query v$fixed_view_definition. Example: SELECT * FROM
v$fixed_view_definition WHERE view_name='V$SESSION';
92. What are the dictionary tables used to monitor a database

spaces ?
DBA_FREE_SPACE
DBA_SEGMENTS
DBA_DATA_FILES.
93. How can we specify the Archived log file name format and
destination?
By setting the following values in init.ora file. LOG_ARCHIVE_FORMAT =
arch %S/s/T/tarc (%S - Log sequence number and is zero left paded, %s
- Log sequence number not padded. %T - Thread number lef-zero-
paded and %t - Thread number not padded). The file name created is
arch 0001 are if %S is used. LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST = path.
94. What is user Account in Oracle database?

An user account is not a physical structure in Database but it is having
important relationship to the objects in the database and will be having
certain privileges.
95. When will the data in the snapshot log be used?

We must be able to create a after row trigger on table (i.e., it should be
not be already available) After giving table privileges. We cannot
specify snapshot log name because oracle uses the name of the
master table in the name of the database objects that support its
snapshot log. The master table name should be less than or equal to
23 characters. (The table name created will be MLOGS_tablename, and
trigger name will be TLOGS name).
96. What dynamic data replication?
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Updating or Inserting records in remote database through database
triggers. It may fail if remote database is having any problem.
97. What is Two-Phase Commit ?

Two-phase commit is mechanism that guarantees a distributed
transaction either commits on all involved nodes or rolls back on all
involved nodes to maintain data consistency across the global
distributed database. It has two phase, a Prepare Phase and a Commit
Phase.
98. How can you Enforce Referential Integrity in snapshots ?

Time the references to occur when master tables are not in use.
Peform the reference the manually immdiately locking the master
tables. We can join tables in snopshots by creating a complex
snapshots that will based on the master tables.
99. What is a SQL * NET?

SQL *NET is ORACLE's mechanism for interfacing with the
communication protocols used by the networks that facilitate
distributed processing and distributed databases. It is used in Clint-
Server and Server-Server communications.
100. What is a SNAPSHOT ?

Snapshots are read-only copies of a master table located on a remote
node which is periodically refreshed to reflect changes made to the
master table.
101. What is the mechanism provided by ORACLE for table

replication ?
Snapshots and SNAPSHOT LOGs
102. What is snapshots?

Snapshot is an object used to dynamically replicate data between
distribute database at specified time intervals. In ver 7.0 they are read
only.
103. What are the various type of snapshots?

Simple and Complex.
104. Describe two phases of Two-phase commit ?
Prepare phase - The global coordinator (initiating node) ask a
participants to prepare (to promise to commit or rollback the
transaction, even if there is a failure) Commit - Phase - If all
participants respond to the coordinator that they are prepared, the
coordinator asks all nodes to commit the transaction, if all participants
cannot prepare, the coordinator asks all nodes to roll back the
transaction.
105. What is snapshot log ?
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It is a table that maintains a record of modifications to the master table
in a snapshot. It is stored in the same database as master table and is
only available for simple snapshots. It should be created before
creating snapshots.
106. What are the benefits of distributed options in databases?

Database on other servers can be updated and those transactions can
be grouped together with others in a logical unit.
Database uses a two phase commit.
107. What are the options available to refresh snapshots ?

COMPLETE - Tables are completely regenerated using the snapshots
query and the master tables every time the snapshot referenced.
FAST - If simple snapshot used then a snapshot log can be used to
send the changes to the snapshot tables.
FORCE - Default value. If possible it performs a FAST refresh; Otherwise
it will perform a complete refresh.
108. What is a SNAPSHOT LOG ?

A snapshot log is a table in the master database that is associated with
the master table. ORACLE uses a snapshot log to track the rows that
have been updated in the master table. Snapshot logs are used in
updating the snapshots based on the master table.
109. What is Distributed database ?

A distributed database is a network of databases managed by multiple
database servers that appears to a user as single logical database. The
data of all databases in the distributed database can be simultaneously
accessed and modified.
110. How can we reduce the network traffic?

- Replication of data in distributed environment.
- Using snapshots to replicate data.
- Using remote procedure calls.
111. Differentiate simple and complex, snapshots ?

- A simple snapshot is based on a query that does not contains GROUP
BY clauses, CONNECT BY clauses, JOINs, sub-query or snashot of
operations.
- A complex snapshots contain atleast any one of the above.
112. What are the Built-ins used for sending Parameters to

forms?
You can pass parameter values to a form when an application executes
the call_form, New_form, Open_form or Run_product.
113. Can you have more than one content canvas view
attached with a window?
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Yes. Each window you create must have atleast one content canvas
view assigned to it. You can also create a window that has manipulated
content canvas view. At run time only one of the content canvas views
assign to a window is displayed at a time.
114. Is the After report trigger fired if the report execution

fails?
Yes.
115. Does a Before form trigger fire when the parameter form
is suppressed?
Yes.
116. What is SGA?
The System Global Area in an Oracle database is the area in memory
to facilitate the transfer of information between users. It holds the
most recently requested structural information between users. It holds
the most recently requested structural information about the database.
The structure is database buffers, dictionary cache, redo log buffer and
shared pool area.
117. What is a shared pool?

The data dictionary cache is stored in an area in SGA called the shared
pool. This will allow sharing of parsed SQL statements among
concurrent users.
118. What is mean by Program Global Area (PGA)?

It is area in memory that is used by a single Oracle user process.
119. What is a data segment?

Data segment are the physical areas within a database block in which
the data associated with tables and clusters are stored.
120. What are the factors causing the reparsing of SQL

statements in SGA?
Due to insufficient shared pool size.
Monitor the ratio of the reloads takes place while executing SQL
statements. If the ratio is greater than 1 then increase the
SHARED_POOL_SIZE.
121. What are clusters?
Clusters are groups of one or more tables physically stores together to
share common columns and are often used together.
122. What is cluster key?

The related columns of the tables in a cluster are called the cluster
key.
123. Do a view contain data?

Views do not contain or store data.
Page 16 of 153
124. What is user Account in Oracle database?
A user account is not a physical structure in database but it is having
important relationship to the objects in the database and will be having
certain privileges.
125. How will you enforce security using stored procedures?

Don't grant user access directly to tables within the application.
Instead grant the ability to access the procedures that access the
tables. When procedure executed it will execute the privilege of
procedures owner. Users cannot access tables except via the
procedure.
126. What are the dictionary tables used to monitor a database

space?
DBA_FREE_SPACE
DBA_SEGMENTS
DBA_DATA_FILES.
127. Can a property clause itself be based on a property
clause?
Yes
128. If a parameter is used in a query without being previously

defined, what diff. exist betw. report 2.0 and 2.5 when the
query is applied?
While both reports 2.0 and 2.5 create the parameter, report 2.5 gives a
message that a bind parameter has been created.
129. What are the sql clauses supported in the link property
sheet?
Where start with having.
130. What is trigger associated with the timer?

When-timer-expired.
131. What are the trigger associated with image items?

When-image-activated fires when the operators double clicks on an
image itemwhen-image-pressed fires when an operator clicks or
double clicks on an image item
132. What are the different windows events activated at

runtimes?
When_window_activated
When_window_closed
When_window_deactivated
When_window_resized
Within this triggers, you can examine the built in system variable
Page 17 of 153
system. event_window to determine the name of the window for which
the trigger fired.
133. When do you use data parameter type?

When the value of a data parameter being passed to a called product
is always the name of the record group defined in the current form.
Data parameters are used to pass data to produts invoked with the
run_product built-in subprogram.
134. What is difference between open_form and call_form?

when one form invokes another form by executing open_form the first
form remains displayed, and operators can navigate between the
forms as desired. when one form invokes another form by executing
call_form, the called form is modal with respect to the calling form.
That is, any windows that belong to the calling form are disabled, and
operators cannot navigate to them until they first exit the called form.
135. What is new_form built-in?

When one form invokes another form by executing new_form oracle
form exits the first form and releases its memory before loading the
new form calling new form completely replace the first with the
second. If there are changes pending in the first form, the operator will
be prompted to save them before the new form is loaded.
136. What is the "LOV of Validation" Property of an item? What

is the use of it?
When LOV for Validation is set to True, Oracle Forms compares the
current value of the text item to the values in the first column
displayed in the LOV. Whenever the validation event occurs. If the
value in the text item matches one of the values in the first column of
the LOV, validation succeeds, the LOV is not displayed, and processing
continues normally. If the value in the text item does not match one of
the values in the first column of the LOV, Oracle Forms displays the
LOV and uses the text item value as the search criteria to
automatically reduce the list.
137. What is the diff. when Flex mode is mode on and when it
is off?
When flex mode is on, reports automatically resizes the parent when
the child is resized.
138. What is the diff. when confine mode is on and when it is

off?
When confine mode is on, an object cannot be moved outside its
parent in the layout.
139. What are visual attributes?

Visual attributes are the font, color, pattern proprieties that you set for
form and menu objects that appear in your application interface.
Page 18 of 153
140. Which of the two views should objects according to
possession?
view by structure.
141. What are the two types of views available in the object
navigator(specific to report 2.5)?
View by structure and view by type .
142. What are the vbx controls?

Vbx control provide a simple method of building and enhancing user
interfaces. The controls can use to obtain user inputs and display
program outputs.vbx control where originally develop as extensions for
the ms visual basic environments and include such items as sliders,
rides and knobs.
143. What is the use of transactional triggers?

Using transactional triggers we can control or modify the default
functionality of the oracle forms.
144. How do you create a new session while open a new form?
Using open_form built-in setting the session option Ex.
Open_form('Stocks ',active,session). when invoke the mulitiple forms
with open form and call_form in the same application, state whether
the following are true/False
145. What are the ways to monitor the performance of the

report?
Use reports profile executable statement. Use SQL trace facility.
146. If two groups are not linked in the data model editor,
What is the hierarchy between them?
Two group that is above are the left most rank higher than the group
that is to right or below it.
147. An open form can not be execute the call_form procedure
if you chain of called forms has been initiated by another open
form?
True
148. Explain about horizontal, Vertical tool bar canvas views?

Tool bar canvas views are used to create tool bars for individual
windows. Horizontal tool bars are display at the top of a window, just
under its menu bar. Vertical Tool bars are displayed along the left side
of a window
149. What is the purpose of the product order option in the

column property sheet?
To specify the order of individual group evaluation in a cross products.
Page 19 of 153
150. What is the use of image_zoom built-in?
To manipulate images in image items.
151. How do you reference a parameter indirectly?

To indirectly reference a parameter use the NAME IN, COPY 'built-ins to
indirectly set and reference the parameters value' Example name_in
('capital parameter my param'), Copy ('SURESH','Parameter
my_param')
152. What is a timer?

Timer is an "internal time clock" that you can programmatically create
to perform an action each time the times.
153. What are the two phases of block coordination?

There are two phases of block coordination: the clear phase and the
population phase. During, the clear phase, Oracle Forms navigates
internally to the detail block and flushes the obsolete detail records.
During the population phase, Oracle Forms issues a SELECT statement
to repopulate the detail block with detail records associated with the
new master record. These operations are accomplished through the
execution of triggers.
154. What are Most Common types of Complex master-detail

relationships?
There are three most common types of complex master-detail
relationships:
master with dependent details
master with independent details
detail with two masters
155. What is a text list?

The text list style list item appears as a rectangular box which displays
the fixed number of values. When the text list contains values that can
not be displayed, a vertical scroll bar appears, allowing the operator to
view and select undisplayed values.
156. What is term?

The term is terminal definition file that describes the terminal form
which you are using r20run.
157. What is use of term?
The term file which key is correspond to which oracle report functions.
158. What is pop list?

The pop list style list item appears initially as a single field (similar to a
text item field). When the operator selects the list icon, a list of
available choices appears.
Page 20 of 153
159. What is the maximum no of chars the parameter can
store?
The maximum no of chars the parameter can store is only valid for
char parameters, which can be upto 64K. No parameters default to
23Bytes and Date parameter default to 7Bytes.
160. What are the default extensions of the files created by

library module?
The default file extensions indicate the library module type and
storage format .pll - pl/sql library module binary
161. What are the Coordination Properties in a Master-Detail

relationship?
The coordination properties are
Deferred
Auto-Query
These Properties determine when the population phase of block
coordination should occur.
162. How do you display console on a window ?

The console includes the status line and message line, and is displayed
at the bottom of the window to which it is assigned.To specify that the
console should be displayed, set the console window form property to
the name of any window in the form. To include the console, set
console window to Null.
163. What are the different Parameter types?

Text ParametersData Parameters
164. State any three mouse events system variables?

System.mouse_button_pressedSystem.mouse_button_shift
165. What are the types of calculated columns available?

Summary, Formula, Placeholder column.
166. Explain about stacked canvas views?

Stacked canvas view is displayed in a window on top of, or "stacked"
on the content canvas view assigned to that same window. Stacked
canvas views obscure some part of the underlying content canvas
view, and or often shown and hidden programmatically.
167. How does one do off-line database backups? (for DBA
Shut down the database from sqlplus or server manager. Backup all
files to secondary storage (eg. tapes). Ensure that you backup all data
files, all control files and all log files. When completed, restart your
database.
Do the following queries to get a list of all files that needs to be backed
up:
select name from sys.v_$datafile;
Page 21 of 153
select member from sys.v_$logfile;
select name from sys.v_$controlfile;
Sometimes Oracle takes forever to shutdown with the "immediate"
option. As workaround to this problem, shutdown using these
commands:
alter system checkpoint;
shutdown abort
startup restrict
shutdown immediate
Note that if you database is in ARCHIVELOG mode, one can still use
archived log files to roll forward from an off-line backup. If you cannot
take your database down for a cold (off-line) backup at a convenient
time, switch your database into ARCHIVELOG mode and perform hot
(on-line) backups.
168. What is the difference between SHOW_EDITOR and

EDIT_TEXTITEM?
Show editor is the generic built-in which accepts any editor name and
takes some input string and returns modified output string. Whereas
the edit_textitem built-in needs the input focus to be in the text item
before the built-in is executed.
169. What are the built-ins that are used to Attach an LOV
programmatically to an item?
set_item_property
get_item_property
(by setting the LOV_NAME property)
170. How does one do on-line database backups? (for DBA

Each tablespace that needs to be backed-up must be switched into
backup mode before copying the files out to secondary storage
(tapes). Look at this simple example.
ALTER TABLESPACE xyz BEGIN BACKUP;
! cp xyfFile1 /backupDir/
ALTER TABLESPACE xyz END BACKUP;
It is better to backup tablespace for tablespace than to put all
tablespaces in backup mode. Backing them up separately incurs less
overhead. When done, remember to backup your control files. Look at
this example:
ALTER SYSTEM SWITCH LOGFILE; -- Force log switch to update control
file headers
ALTER DATABASE BACKUP CONTROLFILE TO '/backupDir/control.dbf';
NOTE: Do not run on-line backups during peak processing periods.
Oracle will write complete database blocks instead of the normal deltas
to redo log files while in backup mode. This will lead to excessive
database archiving and even database freezes.
171. How does one backup a database using RMAN? (for DBA
Page 22 of 153
The biggest advantage of RMAN is that it only backup used space in
the database. Rman doesn't put tablespaces in backup mode, saving
on redo generation overhead. RMAN will re-read database blocks until
it gets a consistent image of it. Look at this simple backup example.
rman target sys/*** nocatalog
run {
allocate channel t1 type disk;
backup
format '/app/oracle/db_backup/%d_t%t_s%s_p%p'
( database );
release channel t1;
}
Example RMAN restore:
rman target sys/*** nocatalog
run {
allocate channel t1 type disk;
# set until time 'Aug 07 2000 :51';
restore tablespace users;
recover tablespace users;
release channel t1;
}
The examples above are extremely simplistic and only useful for
illustrating basic concepts. By default Oracle uses the database
controlfiles to store information about backups. Normally one would
rather setup a RMAN catalog database to store RMAN metadata in.
Read the Oracle Backup and Recovery Guide before implementing any
RMAN backups.
Note: RMAN cannot write image copies directly to tape. One needs to
use a third-party media manager that integrates with RMAN to backup
directly to tape. Alternatively one can backup to disk and then
manually copy the backups to tape.
172. What are the different file extensions that are created by
oracle reports?
Rep file and Rdf file.
173. What is strip sources generate options?

Removes the source code from the library file and generates a library
files that contains only pcode. The resulting file can be used for final
deployment, but can not be subsequently edited in the designer.ex.
f45gen module=old_lib.pll userid=scott/tiger strip_source YES
output_file
173. How does one put a database into ARCHIVELOG mode?

(for DBA
The main reason for running in archivelog mode is that one can
provide 24-hour availability and guarantee complete data
recoverability. It is also necessary to enable ARCHIVELOG mode before
Page 23 of 153
one can start to use on-line database backups. To enable ARCHIVELOG
mode, simply change your database startup command script, and
bounce the database:
SQLPLUS> connect sys as sysdba
SQLPLUS> startup mount exclusive;
SQLPLUS> alter database archivelog;
SQLPLUS> archive log start;
SQLPLUS> alter database open;
NOTE1: Remember to take a baseline database backup right after
enabling archivelog mode. Without it one would not be able to recover.
Also, implement an archivelog backup to prevent the archive log
directory from filling-up.
NOTE2: ARCHIVELOG mode was introduced with Oracle V6, and is
essential for database point-in-time recovery. Archiving can be used in
combination with on-line and off-line database backups.
NOTE3: You may want to set the following INIT.ORA parameters when
enabling ARCHIVELOG mode: log_archive_start=TRUE,
log_archive_dest=... and log_archive_format=...
NOTE4: You can change the archive log destination of a database on-
line with the ARCHIVE LOG START TO 'directory'; statement. This
statement is often used to switch archiving between a set of
directories.
NOTE5: When running Oracle Real Application Server (RAC), you need
to shut down all nodes before changing the database to ARCHIVELOG
mode.
174. What is the basic data structure that is required for

creating an LOV?
Record Group.
175. How does one backup archived log files? (for DBA
One can backup archived log files using RMAN or any operating system
backup utility. Remember to delete files after backing them up to
prevent the archive log directory from filling up. If the archive log
directory becomes full, your database will hang! Look at this simple
RMAN backup script:
RMAN> run {
2> allocate channel dev1 type disk;
3> backup
4> format '/app/oracle/arch_backup/log_t%t_s%s_p%p'
5> (archivelog all delete input);
6> release channel dev1;
7> }
176. Does Oracle write to data files in begin/hot backup mode?

(for DBA
Oracle will stop updating file headers, but will continue to write data to
the database files even if a tablespace is in backup mode.
Page 24 of 153
In backup mode, Oracle will write out complete changed blocks to the
redo log files. Normally only deltas (changes) are logged to the redo
logs. This is done to enable reconstruction of a block if only half of it
was backed up (split blocks). Because of this, one should notice
increased log activity and archiving during on-line backups.
177. What is the Maximum allowed length of Record group
Column?
Record group column names cannot exceed 30 characters.
178. Which parameter can be used to set read level

consistency across multiple queries?
Read only
179. What are the different types of Record Groups?

Query Record Groups
NonQuery Record Groups
State Record Groups
180. From which designation is it preferred to send the output

to the printed?
Previewer
181. what are difference between post database commit and

post-form commit?
Post-form commit fires once during the post and commit transactions
process, after the database commit occurs. The post-form-commit
trigger fires after inserts, updates and deletes have been posted to the
database but before the transactions have been finalized in the issuing
the command. The post-database-commit trigger fires after oracle
forms issues the commit to finalized transactions.
182. What are the different display styles of list items?

Pop_listText_listCombo box
183. Which of the above methods is the faster method?

performing the calculation in the query is faster.
184. With which function of summary item is the compute at

options required?
percentage of total functions.
185. What are parameters?

Parameters provide a simple mechanism for defining and setting the
valuesof inputs that are required by a form at startup. Form
parameters are variables of type char,number,date that you define at
design time.
186. What are the three types of user exits available ?
Page 25 of 153
Oracle Precompiler exits, Oracle call interface, NonOracle user exits.
187. How many windows in a form can have console?

Only one window in a form can display the console, and you cannot
change the console assignment at runtime.
188. What is an administrative (privileged) user? (for DBA
Oracle DBAs and operators typically use administrative accounts to
manage the database and database instance. An administrative
account is a user that is granted SYSOPER or SYSDBA privileges.
SYSDBA and SYSOPER allow access to a database instance even if it is
not running. Control of these privileges is managed outside of the
database via password files and special operating system groups. This
password file is created with the orapwd utility.
189.What are the two repeating frame always associated with

matrix object?
One down repeating frame below one across repeating frame.
190. What are the master-detail triggers?\

On-Check_delete_masterOn_clear_detailsOn_populate_details
191. How does one connect to an administrative user? (for DBA

If an administrative user belongs to the "dba" group on Unix, or the
"ORA_DBA" (ORA_sid_DBA) group on NT, he/she can connect like this:
connect / as sysdba
No password is required. This is equivalent to the desupported
"connect internal" method.
A password is required for "non-secure" administrative access. These
passwords are stored in password files. Remote connections via Net8
are classified as non-secure. Look at this example:
connect sys/password as sysdba
192. How does one create a password file? (for DBA

The Oracle Password File ($ORACLE_HOME/dbs/orapw or orapwSID)
stores passwords for users with administrative privileges. One needs to
create a password files before remote administrators (like OEM) will be
allowed to connect.
Follow this procedure to create a new password file:
. Log in as the Oracle software owner
. Runcommand: orapwd file=$ORACLE_HOME/dbs/orapw$ORACLE_SID
password=mypasswd
. Shutdown the database (SQLPLUS> SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE)
. Edit the INIT.ORA file and ensure
REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE=exclusive is set.
. Startup the database (SQLPLUS> STARTUP)
NOTE: The orapwd utility presents a security risk in that it receives a
password from the command line. This password is visible in the
Page 26 of 153
process table of many systems. Administrators needs to be aware of
this!
193. Is it possible to modify an external query in a report

which contains it?
No.
194. Does a grouping done for objects in the layout editor

affect the grouping done in the data model editor?
No.
195. How does one add users to a password file? (for DBA
One can select from the SYS.V_$PWFILE_USERS view to see which
users are listed in the password file. New users can be added to the
password file by granting them SYSDBA or SYSOPER privileges, or by
using the orapwd utility. GRANT SYSDBA TO scott;
196. If a break order is set on a column would it affect columns

which are under the column?
No
197. Why are OPS$ accounts a security risk in a client/server

environment? (for DBA
If you allow people to log in with OPS$ accounts from Windows
Workstations, you cannot be sure who they really are. With terminals,
you can rely on operating system passwords, with Windows, you
cannot.
If you set REMOTE_OS_AUTHENT=TRUE in your init.ora file, Oracle
assumes that the remote OS has authenticated the user. If
REMOTE_OS_AUTHENT is set to FALSE (recommended), remote users
will be unable to connect without a password. IDENTIFIED EXTERNALLY
will only be in effect from the local host. Also, if you are using "OPS$"
as your prefix, you will be able to log on locally with or without a
password, regardless of whether you have identified your ID with a
password or defined it to be IDENTIFIED EXTERNALLY.
198. Do user parameters appear in the data modal editor in
2.5?
No
199. Can you pass data parameters to forms?

No
200. Is it possible to link two groups inside a cross products

after the cross products group has been created?
no
201. What are the different modals of windows?
Page 27 of 153
Modalless windows
Modal windows
202. What are modal windows?

Modal windows are usually used as dialogs, and have restricted
functionality compared to modelless windows. On some platforms for
example operators cannot resize, scroll or iconify a modal window.
203. What are the different default triggers created when

Master Deletes Property is set to Non-isolated?
Master Deletes Property Resulting Triggers
----------------------------------------------------
Non-Isolated(the default) On-Check-Delete-Master
On-Clear-Details
On-Populate-Details

Master Deletes Property is set to isolated?
---------------------------------------------------
Isolated On-Clear-Details
On-Populate-Details

Master Deletes Property is set to Cascade?
---------------------------------------------------
Cascading On-Clear-Details
On-Populate-Details
Pre-delete
206. What is the diff. bet. setting up of parameters in reports

2.0 reports2.5?
LOVs can be attached to parameters in the reports 2.5 parameter
form.
207. What are the difference between lov & list item?
Lov is a property where as list item is an item. A list item can have only
one column, lov can have one or more columns.
208. What is the advantage of the library?
Libraries provide a convenient means of storing client-side program
units and sharing them among multiple applications. Once you create
a library, you can attach it to any other form, menu, or library modules.
When you can call library program units from triggers menu items
commands and user named routine, you write in the modules to which
you have attach the library. When a library attaches another library,
program units in the first library can reference program units in the
attached library. Library support dynamic loading-that is library
Page 28 of 153
program units are loaded into an application only when needed. This
can significantly reduce the run-time memory requirements of
applications.
209. What is lexical reference? How can it be created?

Lexical reference is place_holder for text that can be embedded in a
sql statements. A lexical reference can be created using & before the
column or parameter name.
210. What is system.coordination_operation?

It represents the coordination causing event that occur on the master
block in master-detail relation.
211. What is synchronize?

It is a terminal screen with the internal state of the form. It updates the
screen display to reflect the information that oracle forms has in its
internal representation of the screen.
212. What use of command line parameter cmd file?

It is a command line argument that allows you to specify a file that
contain a set of arguments for r20run.
213. What is a Text_io Package?

It allows you to read and write information to a file in the file system.
214. What is forms_DDL?

Issues dynamic Sql statements at run time, including server side pl/SQl
and DDL
215. How is link tool operation different bet. reports 2 & 2.5?
In Reports 2.0 the link tool has to be selected and then two fields to be
linked are selected and the link is automatically created. In 2.5 the first
field is selected and the link tool is then used to link the first field to
the second field.
216. What are the different styles of activation of ole Objects?

In place activationExternal activation
217. How do you reference a Parameter?

In Pl/Sql, You can reference and set the values of form parameters
using bind variables syntax. Ex. PARAMETER name = '' or :block.item =
PARAMETER Parameter name
218. What is the difference between object embedding &
linking in Oracle forms?
In Oracle forms, Embedded objects become part of the form module,
and linked objects are references from a form module to a linked
source file.
Page 29 of 153
219. Name of the functions used to get/set canvas properties?
Get_view_property, Set_view_property
220. What are the built-ins that are used for setting the LOV
properties at runtime?
get_lov_property
set_lov_property
221. What are the built-ins used for processing rows?

Get_group_row_count(function)
Get_group_selection_count(function)
Get_group_selection(function)
Reset_group_selection(procedure)
Set_group_selection(procedure)
Unset_group_selection(procedure)
222. What are built-ins used for Processing rows?

GET_GROUP_ROW_COUNT(function)
GET_GROUP_SELECTION_COUNT(function)
GET_GROUP_SELECTION(function)
RESET_GROUP_SELECTION(procedure)
SET_GROUP_SELECTION(procedure)
UNSET_GROUP_SELECTION(procedure)
223. What are the built-in used for getting cell values?
Get_group_char_cell(function)
Get_groupcell(function)
Get_group_number_cell(function)
224. What are the built-ins used for Getting cell values?
GET_GROUP_CHAR_CELL (function)
GET_GROUPCELL(function)
GET_GROUP_NUMBET_CELL(function)
225. Atleast how many set of data must a data model have
before a data model can be base on it?
Four
226. To execute row from being displayed that still use column
in the row which property can be used?
Format trigger.
227. What are different types of modules available in oracle

form?
Form module - a collection of objects and code routines Menu modules
- a collection of menus and menu item commands that together make
up an application menu library module - a collection of user named
procedures, functions and packages that can be called from other
modules in the application
Page 30 of 153
228. What is the remove on exit property?
For a modelless window, it determines whether oracle forms hides the
window automatically when the operators navigates to an item in the
another window.
229. What is WHEN-Database-record trigger?

Fires when oracle forms first marks a record as an insert or an update.
The trigger fires as soon as oracle forms determines through validation
that the record should be processed by the next post or commit as an
insert or update. c generally occurs only when the operators modifies
the first item in the record, and after the operator attempts to navigate
out of the item.
230. What is a difference between pre-select and pre-query?

Fires during the execute query and count query processing after oracle
forms constructs the select statement to be issued, but before the
statement is actually issued. The pre-query trigger fires just before
oracle forms issues the select statement to the database after the
operator as define the example records by entering the query criteria
in enter query mode.Pre-query trigger fires before pre-select trigger.
231. What are built-ins associated with timers?

find_timercreate_timerdelete_timer
232. What are the built-ins used for finding object ID

functions?
Find_group(function)
Find_column(function)
233. What are the built-ins used for finding Object ID function?
FIND_GROUP(function)
FIND_COLUMN(function)
234. Any attempt to navigate programmatically to disabled

form in a call_form stack is allowed?
False
235. Use the Add_group_row procedure to add a row to a static

record group 1. true or false?
False
236. What third party tools can be used with Oracle EBU/
RMAN? (for DBA
The following Media Management Software Vendors have integrated
their media management software packages with Oracle Recovery
Manager and Oracle7 Enterprise Backup Utility. The Media
Management Vendors will provide first line technical support for the
integrated backup/recover solutions.
Page 31 of 153
Veritas NetBackup
EMC Data Manager (EDM)
HP OMNIBack II
IBM's Tivoli Storage Manager - formerly ADSM
Legato Networker
ManageIT Backup and Recovery
Sterling Software's SAMS:Alexandria - formerly from Spectralogic
Sun Solstice Backup
237. Why and when should one tune? (for DBA

One of the biggest responsibilities of a DBA is to ensure that the Oracle
database is tuned properly. The Oracle RDBMS is highly tunable and
allows the database to be monitored and adjusted to increase its
performance. One should do performance tuning for the following
reasons:
The speed of computing might be wasting valuable human time (users
waiting for response); Enable your system to keep-up with the speed
business is conducted; and Optimize hardware usage to save money
(companies are spending millions on hardware). Although this FAQ is
not overly concerned with hardware issues, one needs to remember
than you cannot tune a Buick into a Ferrari.
238. How can a break order be created on a column in an

existing group? What are the various sub events a mouse
double click event involves?
By dragging the column outside the group.
239. What is the use of place holder column? What are the
various sub events a mouse double click event involves?
A placeholder column is used to hold calculated values at a specified
place rather than allowing is to appear in the actual row where it has to
appear.
240. What is the use of hidden column? What are the various
sub events a mouse double click event involves?
A hidden column is used to when a column has to embed into
boilerplate text.
241. What database aspects should be monitored? (for DBA

One should implement a monitoring system to constantly monitor the
following aspects of a database. Writing custom scripts, implementing
Oracle's Enterprise Manager, or buying a third-party monitoring
product can achieve this. If an alarm is triggered, the system should
automatically notify the DBA (e-mail, page, etc.) to take appropriate
action.
Infrastructure availability:
. Is the database up and responding to requests
. Are the listeners up and responding to requests
Page 32 of 153
. Are the Oracle Names and LDAP Servers up and responding to
requests
. Are the Web Listeners up and responding to requests
Things that can cause service outages:

. Is the archive log destination filling up?
. Objects getting close to their max extents
. User and process limits reached
Things that can cause bad performance:

See question "What tuning indicators can one use?".
242. Where should the tuning effort be directed? (for DBA

Consider the following areas for tuning. The order in which steps are
listed needs to be maintained to prevent tuning side effects. For
example, it is no good increasing the buffer cache if you can reduce I/O
by rewriting a SQL statement. Database Design (if it's not too late):
Poor system performance usually results from a poor database design.
One should generally normalize to the 3NF. Selective denormalization
can provide valuable performance improvements. When designing,
always keep the "data access path" in mind. Also look at proper data
partitioning, data replication, aggregation tables for decision support
systems, etc.
Application Tuning:
Experience showed that approximately 80% of all Oracle system
performance problems are resolved by coding optimal SQL. Also
consider proper scheduling of batch tasks after peak working hours.
Memory Tuning:
Properly size your database buffers (shared pool, buffer cache, log
buffer, etc) by looking at your buffer hit ratios. Pin large objects into
memory to prevent frequent reloads.
Disk I/O Tuning:
Database files needs to be properly sized and placed to provide
maximum disk subsystem throughput. Also look for frequent disk sorts,
full table scans, missing indexes, row chaining, data fragmentation, etc
Eliminate Database Contention:
Study database locks, latches and wait events carefully and eliminate
where possible. Tune the Operating System:
Monitor and tune operating system CPU, I/O and memory utilization.
For more information, read the related Oracle FAQ dealing with your
specific operating system.
243. What are the various sub events a mouse double click
event involves? What are the various sub events a mouse
Double clicking the mouse consists of the mouse down, mouse up,
mouse click, mouse down & mouse up events.
Page 33 of 153
245. What are the default parameter that appear at run time in
the parameter screen? What are the various sub events a
mouse double click event involves?
Destype and Desname.
246. What are the built-ins used for Creating and deleting
groups?
CREATE-GROUP (function)
CREATE_GROUP_FROM_QUERY(function)
DELETE_GROUP(procedure)
247. What are different types of canvas views?

Content canvas views
Stacked canvas views
Horizontal toolbar
vertical toolbar.
248. What are the different types of Delete details we can

establish in Master-Details?
Cascade
Isolate
Non-isolate
249. What is relation between the window and canvas views?

Canvas views are the back ground objects on which you place the
interface items (Text items), check boxes, radio groups etc.,) and
boilerplate objects (boxes, lines, images etc.,) that operators interact
with us they run your form . Each canvas views displayed in a window.
250. What is a User_exit?

Calls the user exit named in the user_exit_string. Invokes a 3Gl
program by name which has been properly linked into your current
oracle forms executable.
251. How is it possible to select generate a select set for the

query in the query property sheet?
By using the tables/columns button and then specifying the table and
the column names.
252. How can values be passed bet. precompiler exits & Oracle
call interface?
By using the statement EXECIAFGET & EXECIAFPUT.
253. How can a square be drawn in the layout editor of the

report writer?
By using the rectangle tool while pressing the (Constraint) key.
254. How can a text file be attached to a report while creating

in the report writer?
Page 34 of 153
By using the link file property in the layout boiler plate property sheet.
255. How can I message to passed to the user from reports?

By using SRW.MESSAGE function.
(Continued on next part...)
256. Does one need to drop/ truncate objects before
importing? (for DBA
Before one import rows into already populated tables, one needs to
truncate or drop these tables to get rid of the old data. If not, the new
data will be appended to the existing tables. One must always DROP
existing Sequences before re-importing. If the sequences are not
dropped, they will generate numbers inconsistent with the rest of the
database. Note: It is also advisable to drop indexes before importing to
speed up the import process. Indexes can easily be recreated after the
data was successfully imported.
257. How can a button be used in a report to give a drill down

facility?
By setting the action associated with button to Execute pl/sql option
and using the SRW.Run_report function.
258. Can one import/export between different versions of

Oracle? (for DBA
Different versions of the import utility is upwards compatible. This
means that one can take an export file created from an old export
version, and import it using a later version of the import utility. This is
quite an effective way of upgrading a database from one release of
Oracle to the next.
Oracle also ships some previous catexpX.sql scripts that can be
executed as user SYS enabling older imp/exp versions to work (for
backwards compatibility). For example, one can run
$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/catexp7.sql on an Oracle 8 database to
allow the Oracle 7.3 exp/imp utilities to run against an Oracle 8
database.
259. What are different types of images?

Boiler plate imagesImage Items
260. Can one export to multiple files?/ Can one beat the Unix 2
Gig limit? (for DBA
From Oracle8i, the export utility supports multiple output files. This
feature enables large exports to be divided into files whose sizes will
not exceed any operating system limits (FILESIZE= parameter). When
importing from multi-file export you must provide the same filenames
in the same sequence in the FILE= parameter. Look at this example:
exp SCOTT/TIGER FILE=D:\F1.dmp,E:\F2.dmp FILESIZE=10m
LOG=scott.log
Use the following technique if you use an Oracle version prior to 8i:
Page 35 of 153
Create a compressed export on the fly. Depending on the type of data,
you probably can export up to 10 gigabytes to a single file. This
example uses gzip. It offers the best compression I know of, but you
can also substitute it with zip, compress or whatever.
# create a named pipe
mknod exp.pipe p
# read the pipe - output to zip file in the background
gzip < exp.pipe > scott.exp.gz &
# feed the pipe
exp userid=scott/tiger file=exp.pipe ...
261. What is bind reference and how can it be created?

Bind reference are used to replace the single value in sql, pl/sql
statements a bind reference can be created using a (:) before a column
or a parameter name.
262. How can one improve Import/ Export performance? (for

DBA
EXPORT:
. Set the BUFFER parameter to a high value (e.g. 2M)

. Set the RECORDLENGTH parameter to a high value (e.g. 64K)
. Stop unnecessary applications to free-up resources for your job.
. If you run multiple export sessions, ensure they write to different
physical disks.
. DO NOT export to an NFS mounted filesystem. It will take forever.
IMPORT:
. Create an indexfile so that you can create indexes AFTER you have
imported data. Do this by setting INDEXFILE to a filename and then
import. No data will be imported but a file containing index definitions
will be created. You must edit this file afterwards and supply the
passwords for the schemas on all CONNECT statements.
. Place the file to be imported on a separate physical disk from the
oracle data files
. Increase DB_CACHE_SIZE (DB_BLOCK_BUFFERS prior to 9i)
considerably in the init$SID.ora file
. Set the LOG_BUFFER to a big value and restart oracle.
. Stop redo log archiving if it is running (ALTER DATABASE
NOARCHIVELOG;)
. Create a BIG tablespace with a BIG rollback segment inside. Set all
other rollback segments offline (except the SYSTEM rollback segment
of course). The rollback segment must be as big as your biggest table
(I think?)
. Use COMMIT=N in the import parameter file if you can afford it
. Use ANALYZE=N in the import parameter file to avoid time consuming
ANALYZE statements
. Remember to run the indexfile previously created
Page 36 of 153
263. Give the sequence of execution of the various report
triggers?
Before form , After form , Before report, Between page, After report.
264. What are the common Import/ Export problems? (for DBA
ORA-00001: Unique constraint (...) violated - You are importing
duplicate rows. Use IGNORE=NO to skip tables that already exist (imp
will give an error if the object is re-created).
ORA-01555: Snapshot too old - Ask your users to STOP working while
you are exporting or use parameter CONSISTENT=NO
ORA-01562: Failed to extend rollback segment - Create bigger rollback
segments or set parameter COMMIT=Y while importing
IMP-00015: Statement failed ... object already exists... - Use the
IGNORE=Y import parameter to ignore these errors, but be careful as
you might end up with duplicate rows.
265. Why is it preferable to create a fewer no. of queries in the

data model?
Because for each query, report has to open a separate cursor and has
to rebind, execute and fetch data.
266. Where is the external query executed at the client or the
server?
At the server.
267. Where is a procedure return in an external pl/sql library

executed at the client or at the server?
At the client.
268. What is coordination Event?

Any event that makes a different record in the master block the
current record is a coordination causing event.
269. What is the difference between OLE Server & Ole

Container?
An Ole server application creates ole Objects that are embedded or
linked in ole Containers ex. Ole servers are ms_word & ms_excel. OLE
containers provide a place to store, display and manipulate objects
that are created by ole server applications. Ex. oracle forms is an
example of an ole Container.
270. What is an object group?

An object group is a container for a group of objects; you define an
object group when you want to package related objects, so that you
copy or reference them in other modules.
271. What is an LOV?
Page 37 of 153
An LOV is a scrollable popup window that provides the operator with
either a single or multi column selection list.
272. At what point of report execution is the before Report

trigger fired?
After the query is executed but before the report is executed and the
records are displayed.
273. What are the built -ins used for Modifying a groups
structure?
ADD-GROUP_COLUMN (function)
ADD_GROUP_ROW (procedure)
DELETE_GROUP_ROW(procedure)
274. What is an user exit used for?

A way in which to pass control (and possibly arguments ) form Oracle
report to another Oracle products of 3 GL and then return control ( and
) back to Oracle reports.
275. What is the User-Named Editor?

A user named editor has the same text editing functionality as the
default editor, but, because it is a named object, you can specify editor
attributes such as windows display size, position, and title.
276. My database was terminated while in BACKUP MODE, do I
need to recover? (for DBA
If a database was terminated while one of its tablespaces was in
BACKUP MODE (ALTER TABLESPACE xyz BEGIN BACKUP;), it will tell you
that media recovery is required when you try to restart the database.
The DBA is then required to recover the database and apply all
archived logs to the database. However, from Oracle7.2, you can
simply take the individual datafiles out of backup mode and restart the
database.
ALTER DATABASE DATAFILE '/path/filename' END BACKUP;
One can select from V$BACKUP to see which datafiles are in backup
mode. This normally saves a significant amount of database down
time.
Thiru Vadivelu contributed the following:
From Oracle9i onwards, the following command can be used to take all
of the datafiles out of hot backup mode:
ALTER DATABASE END BACKUP;
The above commands need to be issued when the database is
mounted.
277. What is a Static Record Group?

A static record group is not associated with a query, rather, you define
its structure and row values at design time, and they remain fixed at
runtime.
Page 38 of 153
278. What is a record group?
A record group is an internal Oracle Forms that structure that has a
column/row framework similar to a database table. However, unlike
database tables, record groups are separate objects that belong to the
form module which they are defined.
279. My database is down and I cannot restore. What now? (for
DBA
Recovery without any backup is normally not supported, however,
Oracle Consulting can sometimes extract data from an offline database
using a utility called DUL (Disk UnLoad). This utility reads data in the
data files and unloads it into SQL*Loader or export dump files. DUL
does not care about rollback segments, corrupted blocks, etc, and can
thus not guarantee that the data is not logically corrupt. It is intended
as an absolute last resort and will most likely cost your company a lot
of money!!!
280. I've lost my REDOLOG files, how can I get my DB back?

(for DBA
The following INIT.ORA parameter may be required if your current redo
logs are corrupted or blown away. Caution is advised when enabling
this parameter as you might end-up losing your entire database.
Please contact Oracle Support before using it.
_allow_resetlogs_corruption = true
281. What is a property clause?

A property clause is a named object that contains a list of properties
and their settings. Once you create a property clause you can base
other object on it. An object based on a property can inherit the setting
of any property in the clause that makes sense for that object.
282. What is a physical page ? & What is a logical page ?

A physical page is a size of a page. That is output by the printer. The
logical page is the size of one page of the actual report as seen in the
Previewer.
283. I've lost some Rollback Segments, how can I get my DB

back? (for DBA
Re-start your database with the following INIT.ORA parameter if one of
your rollback segments is corrupted. You can then drop the corrupted
rollback segments and create it from scratch.
Caution is advised when enabling this parameter, as uncommitted
transactions will be marked as committed. One can very well end up
with lost or inconsistent data!!! Please contact Oracle Support before
using it. _Corrupted_rollback_segments = (rbs01, rbs01, rbs03, rbs04)
284. What are the differences between EBU and RMAN? (for
DBA
Page 39 of 153
Enterprise Backup Utility (EBU) is a functionally rich, high performance
interface for backing up Oracle7 databases. It is sometimes referred to
as OEBU for Oracle Enterprise Backup Utility. The Oracle Recovery
Manager (RMAN) utility that ships with Oracle8 and above is similar to
Oracle7's EBU utility. However, there is no direct upgrade path from
EBU to RMAN.
285. How does one create a RMAN recovery catalog? (for DBA
Start by creating a database schema (usually called rman). Assign an
appropriate tablespace to it and grant it the recovery_catalog_owner
role. Look at this example:
sqlplus sys
SQL>create user rman identified by rman;
SQL> alter user rman default tablespace tools temporary tablespace
temp;
SQL> alter user rman quota unlimited on tools;
SQL> grant connect, resource, recovery_catalog_owner to rman;
SQL> exit;
Next, log in to rman and create the catalog schema. Prior to Oracle 8i
this was done by running the catrman.sql script. rman catalog
rman/rman
RMAN>create catalog tablespace tools;
RMAN> exit;
You can now continue by registering your databases in the catalog.
Look at this example:
rman catalog rman/rman target backdba/backdba
RMAN> register database;
286. How can a group in a cross products be visually
distinguished from a group that does not form a cross product?
A group that forms part of a cross product will have a thicker border.
287. What is the frame & repeating frame?

A frame is a holder for a group of fields. A repeating frame is used to
display a set of records when the no. of records that are to displayed is
not known before.
288. What is a combo box?

A combo box style list item combines the features found in list and text
item. Unlike the pop list or the text list style list items, the combo box
style list item will both display fixed values and accept one operator
entered value.
289. What are three panes that appear in the run time pl/sql
interpreter?
1. Source pane.
2. interpreter pane.
3. Navigator pane.
Page 40 of 153
290. What are the two panes that Appear in the design time
pl/sql interpreter?
1. Source pane.
2. Interpreter pane
291. What are the two ways by which data can be generated
for a parameters list of values?
1. Using static values.
2. Writing select statement.
292. What are the various methods of performing a calculation

in a report ?
1. Perform the calculation in the SQL statements itself.
2. Use a calculated / summary column in the data model.

menu module?
.mmb,
.mmx

forms modules?
.fmb - form module binary
.fmx - form module executable
295. To display the page no. for each page on a report what
would be the source & logical page no. or & of physical page
no.?
& physical page no.
296. It is possible to use raw devices as data files and what is
the advantages over file. system files ?
Yes. The advantages over file system files. I/O will be improved
because Oracle is bye-passing the kernnel which writing into disk. Disk
Corruption will be very less.
297. What are disadvantages of having raw devices ?

We should depend on export/import utility for backup/recovery (fully
reliable) The tar command cannot be used for physical file backup,
instead we can use dd command which is less flexible and has limited
recoveries.
298. What is the significance of having storage clause ?

We can plan the storage for a table as how much initial extents are
required, how much can be extended next, how much % should leave
free for managing row updations etc.,
299. What is the use of INCTYPE option in EXP command ?
Page 41 of 153
Type export should be performed
COMPLETE,CUMULATIVE,INCREMENTAL. List the sequence of events
when a large transaction that exceeds beyond its optimal value when
an entry wraps and causes the rollback segment toexpand into anotion
Completes. e. will be written.
300. What is the use of FILE option in IMP command ?

The name of the file from which import should be performed.
301. What is a Shared SQL pool?

The data dictionary cache is stored in an area in SGA called the Shared
SQL Pool. This will allow sharing of parsed SQL statements among
concurrent users.
302. What is hot backup and how it can be taken?

Taking backup of archive log files when database is open. For this the
ARCHIVELOG mode should be enabled. The following files need to be
backed up. All data files. All Archive log, redo log files. All control files.
303. List the Optional Flexible Architecture (OFA) of Oracle

database? or How can we organize the tablespaces in Oracle
database to have maximum performance ?
SYSTEM - Data dictionary tables.
DATA - Standard operational tables.
DATA2- Static tables used for standard operations
INDEXES - Indexes for Standard operational tables.
INDEXES1 - Indexes of static tables used for standard operations.
TOOLS - Tools table.
TOOLS1 - Indexes for tools table.
RBS - Standard Operations Rollback Segments,
RBS1,RBS2 - Additional/Special Rollback segments.
TEMP - Temporary purpose tablespace
TEMP_USER - Temporary tablespace for users.
USERS - User tablespace.
304. How to implement the multiple control files for an
existing database ?
Shutdown the database Copy one of the existing control file to new
location Edit Config ora file by adding new control file. name Restart
the database.
305. What is advantage of having disk shadowing/ Mirroring ?

Shadow set of disks save as a backup in the event of disk failure. In
most Operating System if any disk failure occurs it automatically
switchover to place of failed disk. Improved performance because most
OS support volume shadowing can direct file I/O request to use the
shadow set of files instead of the main set of files. This reduces I/O
load on the main set of disks.
Page 42 of 153
306. How will you force database to use particular rollback
segment ?
SET TRANSACTION USE ROLLBACK SEGMENT rbs_name.
307. Why query fails sometimes ?

Rollback segment dynamically extent to handle larger transactions
entry loads. A single transaction may wipeout all available free space
in the Rollback Segment Tablespace. This prevents other user using
Rollback segments.
308. What is the use of RECORD LENGTH option in EXP

command ?
Record length in bytes.
309. How will you monitor rollback segment status ?

Querying the DBA_ROLLBACK_SEGS view
IN USE - Rollback Segment is on-line.
AVAILABLE - Rollback Segment available but not on-line.
OFF-LINE - Rollback Segment off-line
INVALID - Rollback Segment Dropped.
NEEDS RECOVERY - Contains data but need recovery or corupted.
PARTLY AVAILABLE - Contains data from an unresolved transaction
involving a distributed database.
310. What is meant by Redo Log file mirroring ? How it can be

achieved?
Process of having a copy of redo log files is called mirroring. This can
be achieved by creating group of log files together, so that LGWR will
automatically writes them to all the members of the current on-line
redo log group. If any one group fails then database automatically
switch over to next group. It degrades performance.
311. Which parameter in Storage clause will reduce no. of rows

per block?
PCTFREE parameter
Row size also reduces no of rows per block.
312. What is meant by recursive hints ?

Number of times processes repeatedly query the dictionary table is
called recursive hints. It is due to the data dictionary cache is too
small. By increasing the SHARED_POOL_SIZE parameter we can
optimize the size of Data Dictionary Cache.
313. What is the use of PARFILE option in EXP command ?

Name of the parameter file to be passed for export.
314. What is the difference between locks, latches, enqueues
and semaphores? (for DBA
Page 43 of 153
A latch is an internal Oracle mechanism used to protect data structures
in the SGA from simultaneous access. Atomic hardware instructions
like TEST-AND-SET is used to implement latches. Latches are more
restrictive than locks in that they are always exclusive. Latches are
never queued, but will spin or sleep until they obtain a resource, or
time out.
Enqueues and locks are different names for the same thing. Both
support queuing and concurrency. They are queued and serviced in a
first-in-first-out (FIFO) order.
Semaphores are an operating system facility used to control waiting.
Semaphores are controlled by the following Unix parameters: semmni,
semmns and semmsl. Typical settings are:
semmns = sum of the "processes" parameter for each instance
(see init<instance>.ora for each instance)
semmni = number of instances running simultaneously;
semmsl = semmns
315. What is a logical backup?

Logical backup involves reading a set of database records and writing
them into a file. Export utility is used for taking backup and Import
utility is used to recover from backup.
316. Where can one get a list of all hidden Oracle parameters?
(for DBA
Oracle initialization or INIT.ORA parameters with an underscore in front
are hidden or unsupported parameters. One can get a list of all hidden
parameters by executing this query:
select *
from SYS.X$KSPPI
where substr(KSPPINM,1,1) = '_';
The following query displays parameter names with their current value:
select a.ksppinm "Parameter", b.ksppstvl "Session Value", c.ksppstvl

"Instance Value"
from x$ksppi a, x$ksppcv b, x$ksppsv c
where a.indx = b.indx and a.indx = c.indx
and substr(ksppinm,1,1)='_'
order by a.ksppinm;
Remember: Thou shall not play with undocumented parameters!
317. What is a database EVENT and how does one set it? (for
DBA
Oracle trace events are useful for debugging the Oracle database
server. The following two examples are simply to demonstrate syntax.
Refer to later notes on this page for an explanation of what these
particular events do.
Either adding them to the INIT.ORA parameter file can activate events.
E.g.
Page 44 of 153
event='1401 trace name errorstack, level 12'
... or, by issuing an ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS command: E.g.
alter session set events '10046 trace name context forever, level 4';
The alter session method only affects the user's current session,
whereas changes to the INIT.ORA file will affect all sessions once the
database has been restarted.
318. What is a Rollback segment entry ?

It is the set of before image data blocks that contain rows that are
modified by a transaction. Each Rollback Segment entry must be
completed within one rollback segment. A single rollback segment can
have multiple rollback segment entries.
319. What database events can be set? (for DBA

The following events are frequently used by DBAs and Oracle Support
to diagnose problems:
" 10046 trace name context forever, level 4 Trace SQL statements and
show bind variables in trace output.
" 10046 trace name context forever, level 8 This shows wait events in
the SQL trace files
" 10046 trace name context forever, level 12 This shows both bind
variable names and wait events in the SQL trace files
" 1401 trace name errorstack, level 12 1401 trace name errorstack,
level 4 1401 trace name processstate Dumps out trace information if
an ORA-1401 "inserted value too large for column" error occurs. The
1401 can be replaced by any other Oracle Server error code that you
want to trace.
" 60 trace name errorstack level 10 Show where in the code Oracle
gets a deadlock (ORA-60), and may help to diagnose the problem.
The following lists of events are examples only. They might be version
specific, so please call Oracle before using them:
" 10210 trace name context forever, level 10 10211 trace name
context forever, level 10 10231 trace name context forever, level 10
These events prevent database block corruptions
" 10049 trace name context forever, level 2 Memory protect cursor
" 10210 trace name context forever, level 2 Data block check
" 10211 trace name context forever, level 2 Index block check
" 10235 trace name context forever, level 1 Memory heap check
" 10262 trace name context forever, level 300 Allow 300 bytes
memory leak for connections
Note: You can use the Unix oerr command to get the description of an
event. On Unix, you can type "oerr ora 10053" from the command
prompt to get event details.
320. How can one dump internal database structures? (for DBA
The following (mostly undocumented) commands can be used to
obtain information about internal database structures.
o Dump control file contents
Page 45 of 153
alter session set events 'immediate trace name CONTROLF level 10'
/
o Dump file headers
alter session set events 'immediate trace name FILE_HDRS level 10'
/
o Dump redo log headers
alter session set events 'immediate trace name REDOHDR level 10'
/
o Dump the system state
NOTE: Take 3 successive SYSTEMSTATE dumps, with 10-minute
intervals alter session set events 'immediate trace name
SYSTEMSTATE level 10'
/
o Dump the process state
alter session set events 'immediate trace name PROCESSSTATE level
10'
/
o Dump Library Cache details
alter session set events 'immediate trace name library cache level 10'
/
o Dump optimizer statistics whenever a SQL statement is parsed (hint:
change statement or flush pool) alter session set events '10053 trace
name context forever, level 1'
/
o Dump a database block (File/ Block must be converted to DBA
address) Convert file and block number to a DBA (database block
address).
Eg: variable x varchar2;
exec :x := dbms_utility.make_data_block_address(1,12);
print x
alter session set events 'immediate trace name blockdump level
50360894'
/
321. What are the different kind of export backups?

Full back - Complete database
Incremental - Only affected tables from last incremental date/full
backup date.
Cumulative backup - Only affected table from the last cumulative
date/full backup date.
322. How free extents are managed in Ver 6.0 and Ver 7.0 ?
Free extents cannot be merged together in Ver 6.0.
Free extents are periodically coalesces with the neighboring free
extent in Ver 7.0
323. What is the use of RECORD option in EXP command?
Page 46 of 153
For Incremental exports, the flag indirects whether a record will be
stores data dictionary tables recording the export.
324. What is the use of ROWS option in EXP command ?
Flag to indicate whether table rows should be exported. If 'N' only DDL
statements for the database objects will be created.
325. What is the use of COMPRESS option in EXP command ?

Flag to indicate whether export should compress fragmented segments
into single extents.
326. How will you swap objects into a different table space for
an existing database ?
Export the user
Perform import using the command imp system/manager
file=export.dmp indexfile=newrite.sql.
This will create all definitions into newfile.sql. Drop necessary objects.
Run the script newfile.sql after altering the tablespaces.
Import from the backup for the necessary objects.
327. How does Space allocation table place within a block ?

Each block contains entries as follows
Fixed block header
Variable block header
Row Header,row date (multiple rows may exists)
PCTEREE (% of free space for row updation in future)
328. What are the factors causing the reparsing of SQL

statements in SGA?
Due to insufficient Shared SQL pool size. Monitor the ratio of the
reloads takes place while executing SQL statements. If the ratio is
greater than 1 then increase the SHARED_POOL_SIZE. LOGICAL &
PHYSICAL ARCHITECTURE OF DATABASE.
329. What is dictionary cache ?

Dictionary cache is information about the databse objects stored in a
data dictionary table.
330. What is a Control file ?

Database overall physical architecture is maintained in a file called
control file. It will be used to maintain internal consistency and guide
recovery operations. Multiple copies of control files are advisable.
331. What is Database Buffers ?

Database buffers are cache in the SGA used to hold the data blocks
that are read from the data segments in the database such as tables,
indexes and clusters DB_BLOCK_BUFFERS parameter in INIT.ORA
decides the size.
Page 47 of 153
332. How will you create multiple rollback segments in a
database ?
Create a database which implicitly creates a SYSTEM Rollback Segment
in a SYSTEM tablespace. Create a Second Rollback Segment name R0
in the SYSTEM tablespace. Make new rollback segment available (After
shutdown, modify init.ora file and Start database) Create other
tablespaces (RBS) for rollback segments. Deactivate Rollback Segment
R0 and activate the newly created rollback segments.
333. What is cold backup? What are the elements of it?
Cold backup is taking backup of all physical files after normal
shutdown of database. We need to take.
- All Data files.
- All Control files.
- All on-line redo log files.
- The init.ora file (Optional)
334. What is meant by redo log buffer ?

Changes made to entries are written to the on-line redo log files. So
that they can be used in roll forward operations during database
recoveries. Before writing them into the redo log files, they will first
brought to redo log buffers in SGA and LGWR will write into files
frequently. LOG_BUFFER parameter will decide the size.
335. How will you estimate the space required by a non-

clustered tables?
Calculate the total header size
Calculate the available dataspace per data block
Calculate the combined column lengths of the average row
Calculate the total average row size.
Calculate the average number rows that can fit in a block
Calculate the number of blocks and bytes required for the table.
After arriving the calculation, add 10 % additional space to calculate
the initial extent size for a working table.
336. How will you monitor the space allocation ?

By querying DBA_SEGMENT table/view.
337. What is meant by free extent ?

A free extent is a collection of continuous free blocks in tablespace.
When a segment is dropped its extents are reallocated and are marked
as free.
338. What is the use of IGNORE option in IMP command ?

A flag to indicate whether the import should ignore errors encounter
when issuing CREATE commands.
339. What is the use of ANALYSE ( Ver 7) option in EXP

command ?
Page 48 of 153
A flag to indicate whether statistical information about the exported
objects should be written to export dump file.
340. What is the use of ROWS option in IMP command ?

A flag to indicate whether rows should be imported. If this is set to 'N'
then only DDL for database objects will be executed.
341. What is the use of INDEXES option in EXP command ?

A flag to indicate whether indexes on tables will be exported.
342. What is the use of INDEXES option in IMP command ?
A flag to indicate whether import should import index on tables or not.
343. What is the use of GRANT option in EXP command?

A flag to indicate whether grants on databse objects will be exported
or not. Value is 'Y' or 'N'.
344. What is the use of GRANT option in IMP command ?

A flag to indicate whether grants on database objects will be imported.
345. What is the use of FULL option in EXP command ?

A flag to indicate whether full databse export should be performed.
346. What is the use of SHOW option in IMP command ?

A flag to indicate whether file content should be displayed or not.
347. What is the use of CONSTRAINTS option in EXP

command ?
A flag to indicate whether constraints on table need to be exported.
348. What is the use of CONSISTENT (Ver 7) option in EXP

command ?
A flag to indicate whether a read consistent version of all the exported
objects should be maintained.
349. What are the different methods of backing up oracle

database ?
- Logical Backups
- Cold Backups
- Hot Backups (Archive log)
350. What is the difference between ON-VALIDATE-FIELD

trigger and a POST-CHANGE trigger ?
When you changes the Existing value to null, the On-validate field
trigger will fire post change trigger will not fire. At the time of execute-
query post-change trigger will fire, on-validate field trigger will not fire.
351. When is PRE-QUERY trigger executed ?

When Execute-query or count-query Package procedures are invoked.
Page 49 of 153
352. How do you trap the error in forms 3.0 ?
using On-Message or On-Error triggers.
353. How many pages you can in a single form ?

Unlimited
354. While specifying master/detail relationship between two

blocks specifying the join condition is a must ? True or False. ?
True
355. EXIT_FORM is a restricted package procedure ?a. True b.

False
True
356. What is the usage of an ON-INSERT,ON-DELETE and ON-

UPDATE TRIGGERS ?
These triggers are executes when inserting, deleting and updating
operations are performed and can be used to change the default
function of insert, delete or update respectively. For Eg, instead of
inserting a row in a table an existing row can be updated in the same
table.
357. What are the types of Pop-up window ?

the pop-up field editor
pop-up list of values
pop-up pages.
Alert :
358. What is an SQL *FORMS ?

SQL *forms is 4GL tool for developing and executing; Oracle based
interactive application.
359. How do you control the constraints in forms ?

Select the use constraint property is ON Block definition screen.
BLOCK
360. What is the difference between restricted and

unrestricted package procedure ?
Restricted package procedure that affects the basic functions of SQL *
Forms. It cannot used in all triggers except key triggers. Unrestricted
package procedure that does not interfere with the basic functions of
SQL * Forms it can be used in any triggers.
361. A query fetched 10 records How many times does a PRE-
QUERY Trigger and POST-QUERY Trigger will get executed ?
PRE-QUERY fires once.
POST-QUERY fires 10 times.
Page 50 of 153
362. Give the sequence in which triggers fired during insert
operations, when the following 3 triggers are defined at the
same block level ?
a. ON-INSERT b. POST-INSERT c. PRE-INSERT
363. State the order in which these triggers are executed ?

POST-FIELD,ON-VALIDATE-FIELD,POST-CHANGE and KEY-NEXTFLD.
KEY-NEXTFLD,POST-CHANGE, ON-VALIDATE-FIELD, POST-FIELD. g.
364. What the PAUSE package procedure does ?

Pause suspends processing until the operator presses a function key
365. What do you mean by a page ?

Pages are collection of display information, such as constant text and
graphics
366. What are the type of User Exits ?

ORACLE Precompliers user exits
OCI (ORACLE Call Interface)
Non-ORACEL user exits.
Page :
367. What is the difference between an ON-VALIDATE-FIELD

trigger and a trigger ?
On-validate-field trigger fires, when the field Validation status New or
changed. Post-field-trigger whenever the control leaving form the field,
it will fire.
368. Can we use a restricted package procedure in ON-

VALIDATE-FIELD Trigger ?
No
369. Is a Key startup trigger fires as result of a operator

pressing a key explicitly ?
No
370. Can we use GO-BLOCK package in a pre-field trigger ?

No
371. Can we create two blocks with the same name in form
3.0 ?
No
372. What is Post-Block is a. ???

a. Navigational Trigger.
b. Key trigger
c. Transaction Trigger.
373. What does an on-clear-block Trigger fire?
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It fires just before SQL * forms the current block.
374. Name the two files that are created when you generate
the form give the filex extension ?
INP (Source File)
FRM (Executable File)
375. What package procedure used for invoke sql *plus from
sql *forms ?
Host (E.g. Host (sqlplus))
376. What is the significance of PAGE 0 in forms 3.0 ?

Hide the fields for internal calculation.
377. What are the different types of key triggers ?

Function Key
Key-function
Key-others
Key-startup
378. What is the difference between a Function Key Trigger

and Key Function Trigger ?
Function key triggers are associated with individual SQL*FORMS
function keys You can attach Key function triggers to 10 keys or key
sequences that normally do not perform any SQL * FORMS operations.
These keys referred as key F0 through key F9.
379. Committed block sometimes refer to a BASE TABLE ?

False
380. Error_Code is a package proecdure ?

a. True b. false
False
381. When is cost based optimization triggered? (for DBA
It's important to have statistics on all tables for the CBO (Cost Based
Optimizer) to work correctly. If one table involved in a statement does
not have statistics, Oracle has to revert to rule-based optimization for
that statement. So you really want for all tables to have statistics right
away; it won't help much to just have the larger tables analyzed.
Generally, the CBO can change the execution plan when you:
1. Change statistics of objects by doing an ANALYZE;
2. Change some initialization parameters (for example:
hash_join_enabled, sort_area_size, db_file_multiblock_read_count).
382. How can one optimize %XYZ% queries? (for DBA

It is possible to improve %XYZ% queries by forcing the optimizer to
scan all the entries from the index instead of the table. This can be
done by specifying hints. If the index is physically smaller than the
Page 52 of 153
table (which is usually the case) it will take less time to scan the entire
index than to scan the entire table.
383. What Enter package procedure does ?

Enter Validate-data in the current validation unit.
384. Where can one find I/O statistics per table? (for DBA
The UTLESTAT report shows I/O per tablespace but one cannot see
what tables in the tablespace has the most I/O. The
$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/catio.sql script creates a sample_io
procedure and table to gather the required information. After
executing the procedure, one can do a simple SELECT * FROM
io_per_object; to extract the required information. For more details,
look at the header comments in the
$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/catio.sql script.
385. My query was fine last week and now it is slow. Why? (for
DBA
The likely cause of this is because the execution plan has changed.
Generate a current explain plan of the offending query and compare it
to a previous one that was taken when the query was performing well.
Usually the previous plan is not available.
Some factors that can cause a plan to change are:
. Which tables are currently analyzed? Were they previously analyzed?
(ie. Was the query using RBO and now CBO?)
. Has OPTIMIZER_MODE been changed in INIT.ORA?
. Has the DEGREE of parallelism been defined/changed on any table?
. Have the tables been re-analyzed? Were the tables analyzed using
estimate or compute? If estimate, what percentage was used?
. Have the statistics changed?
. Has the INIT.ORA parameter DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT
been changed?
. Has the INIT.ORA parameter SORT_AREA_SIZE been changed?
. Have any other INIT.ORA parameters been changed?
. What do you think the plan should be? Run the query with hints to
see if this produces the required performance.
386. Why is Oracle not using the damn index? (for DBA
This problem normally only arises when the query plan is being
generated by the Cost Based Optimizer. The usual cause is because
the CBO calculates that executing a Full Table Scan would be faster
than accessing the table via the index.
Fundamental things that can be checked are:
. USER_TAB_COLUMNS.NUM_DISTINCT - This column defines the
number of distinct values the column holds.
. USER_TABLES.NUM_ROWS - If NUM_DISTINCT = NUM_ROWS then
using an index would be preferable to doing a FULL TABLE SCAN. As
the NUM_DISTINCT decreases, the cost of using an index increase
Page 53 of 153
thereby is making the index less desirable.
. USER_INDEXES.CLUSTERING_FACTOR - This defines how ordered the
rows are in the index. If CLUSTERING_FACTOR approaches the number
of blocks in the table, the rows are ordered. If it approaches the
number of rows in the table, the rows are randomly ordered. In such a
case, it is unlikely that index entries in the same leaf block will point to
rows in the same data blocks.
. Decrease the INIT.ORA parameter
DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT - A higher value will make the cost
of a FULL TABLE SCAN cheaper.
. Remember that you MUST supply the leading column of an index, for
the index to be used (unless you use a FAST FULL SCAN or SKIP
SCANNING).
. There are many other factors that affect the cost, but sometimes the
above can help to show why an index is not being used by the CBO. If
from checking the above you still feel that the query should be using
an index, try specifying an index hint. Obtain an explain plan of the
query either using TKPROF with TIMED_STATISTICS, so that one can
see the CPU utilization, or with AUTOTRACE to see the statistics.
Compare this to the explain plan when not using an index.
397. When should one rebuild an index? (for DBA

You can run the 'ANALYZE INDEX VALIDATE STRUCTURE' command on
the affected indexes - each invocation of this command creates a
single row in the INDEX_STATS view. This row is overwritten by the
next ANALYZE INDEX command, so copy the contents of the view into
a local table after each ANALYZE. The 'badness' of the index can then
be judged by the ratio of 'DEL_LF_ROWS' to 'LF_ROWS'.
388. What are the unrestricted procedures used to change the

popup screen position during run time ?
Anchor-view
Resize -View
Move-View.
389. What is an Alert ?

An alert is window that appears in the middle of the screen overlaying
a portion of the current display.
390. Deleting a page removes information about all the fields

in that page ? a. True. b. False?
a. True.
391. Two popup pages can appear on the screen at a time ?
Two popup pages can appear on the screen at a time ? a. True.
b. False?
a. True.
Page 54 of 153
392. Classify the restricted and unrestricted procedure from
the following.
a. Call
b. User-Exit
c. Call-Query
d. Up
e. Execute-Query
f. Message
g. Exit-From
h. Post
i. Break?
a. Call - unrestricted
b. User Exit - Unrestricted
c. Call_query - Unrestricted
d. Up - Restricted
e. Execute Query - Restricted
f. Message - Restricted
g. Exit_form - Restricted
h. Post - Restricted
i. Break - Unrestricted.
393. What is an User Exits ?

A user exit is a subroutine which are written in programming
languages using pro*C pro *Cobol , etc., that link into the SQL * forms
executable.
394. What is a Trigger ?

A piece of logic that is executed at or triggered by a SQL *forms event.
395. What is a Package Procedure ?

A Package procedure is built in PL/SQL procedure.
398. What is the maximum size of a form ?

255 character width and 255 characters Length.
399. What is the difference between system.current_field and

system.cursor_field ?
1. System.current_field gives name of the field.
2. System.cursor_field gives name of the field with block name.
400. List the system variables related in Block and Field?
1. System.block_status
2. System.current_block
3. System.current_field
4. System.current_value
5. System.cursor_block
6. System.cursor_field
7. System.field_status.
Page 55 of 153
401. What are the different types of Package Procedure ?
1. Restricted package procedure.
2. Unrestricted package procedure.
402. What are the types of TRIGGERS ?

1. Navigational Triggers.
2. Transaction Triggers.
403. Identify package function from the following ? 1. Error-

Code
2. Break
3. Call
4. Error-text
5. Form-failure
6. Form-fatal
7. Execute-query
8. Anchor View
9. Message_code?
1. Error_Code
2. Error_Text
3. Form_Failure
4. Form_Fatal
5. Message_Code
403. Can you attach an lov to a field at run-time? if yes, give

the build-in name.?
Yes. Set_item_proprety
404. Is it possible to attach same library to more than one

form?
Yes
405. Can you attach an lov to a field at design time?

Yes
406. List the windows event triggers available in Forms 4.0?

When-window-activated,
when-window-closed,
when-window-deactivated,
when-window-resized
407. What are the triggers associated with the image item?
When-Image-activated(Fires when the operator double clicks on an
image Items)
When-image-pressed(fires when the operator selects or deselects the
image item)
408. What is a visual attribute?
Page 56 of 153
Visual Attributes are the font, color and pattern characteristics of
objects that operators see and intract with in our application.
409. How many maximum number of radio buttons can you

assign to a radio group?
Unlimited no of radio buttons can be assigned to a radio group
411. What is a Layout Editor?
The Layout Editor is a graphical design facility for creating and
arranging items and boilerplate text and graphics objects in your
application's interface.
412. List the Types of Items?

Text item.
Chart item.
Check box.
Display item.
Image item.
List item.
Radio Group.
User Area item.
413. List system variables available in forms 4.0, and not

available in forms 3.0?
System.cordination_operation
System Date_threshold
System.effective_Date
System.event_window
System.suppress_working
414. What are the display styles of an alert?

Stop, Caution, note
415. What built-in is used for showing the alert during run-
time?
Show_alert.
416. What built-in is used for changing the properties of the

window dynamically?
Set_window_property
Canvas-View
417. What are the different types of windows?

Root window, secondary window.
418. What is a predefined exception available in forms 4.0?
Raise form_trigger_failure
419. What is a radio Group?
Page 57 of 153
Radio groups display a fixed no of options that are mutually Exclusive.
User can select one out of n number of options.
419. What are the different type of a record group?

Query record group
Static record group
Non query record group
420. What are the menu items that oracle forms 4.0 supports?
Plain, Check,Radio, Separator, Magic
421. Give the equivalent term in forms 4.0 for the following.
Page, Page 0?
Page - Canvas-View
Page 0 - Canvas-view null.
422. What triggers are associated with the radio group?

Only when-radio-changed trigger associated with radio group
Visual Attributes.
423. What are the triggers associated with a check box?

Only When-checkbox-activated Trigger associated with a Check box.
424.Can you attach an alert to a field?

No
425. Can a root window be made modal?

No
426. What is a list item?

It is a list of text elements.
427. List some built-in routines used to manipulate images in

image_item?
Image_add
Image_and
Image_subtract
Image_xor
Image_zoom
428. Can you change the alert messages at run-time?

If yes, give the name of the built-in to change the alert messages at
run-time. Yes. Set_alert_property.
429. What is the built-in used to get and set lov properties
during run-time?
Get_lov_property
Set_lov_property
Record Group
Page 58 of 153
430. What is the built-in routine used to count the no of rows
in a group?
Get_group _row_count
System Variables
431. Give the Types of modules in a form?

Form
Menu
Library
432. Write the Abbreviation for the following File Extension 1.

FMB 2. MMB 3. PLL?
FMB ----- Form Module Binary.
MMB ----- Menu Module Binary.
PLL ------ PL/SQL Library Module Binary.
433. List the built-in routine for controlling window during run-
time?
Find_window,
get_window_property,
hide_window,
move_window,
resize_window,
set_window_property,
show_View
434. List the built-in routine for controlling window during run-
time?
Find_canvas
Get-Canvas_property
Get_view_property
Hide_View
Replace_content_view
Scroll_view
Set_canvas_property
Set_view_property
Show_view
Alert
435. What is the built-in function used for finding the alert?
Find_alert
Editors
436. List the editors availables in forms 4.0?

Default editor
User_defined editors
system editors.
Page 59 of 153
437. What buil-in routines are used to display editor
dynamicaly?
Edit_text item
show_editor
LOV
438. What is an Lov?
A list of values is a single or multi column selection list displayed in a
pop-up window
439. What is a record Group?

A record group is an internal oracle forms data structure that has a
similar column/row frame work to a database table
440. Give built-in routine related to a record groups?

Create_group (Function)
Create_group_from_query(Function)
Delete_group(Procedure)
Add_group_column(Function)
Add_group_row(Procedure)
Delete_group_row(Procedure)
Populate_group(Function)
Populate_group_with_query(Function)
Set_group_Char_cell(procedure)
441. List the built-in routines for the controlling canvas views
during run-time?
Find_canvas
Get-Canvas_property
Get_view_property
Hide_View
Replace_content_view
Scroll_view
Set_canvas_property
Set_view_property
Show_view
Alert
442. System.effective_date system variable is read only

True/False?
False
443. What are the built_in used to trapping errors in forms 4?

Error_type return character
Error_code return number
Error_text return char
Dbms_error_code return no.
Dbms_error_text return char
Page 60 of 153
444. What is Oracle Financials? (for DBA
Oracle Financials products provide organizations with solutions to
a wide range of long- and short-term accounting system issues.
Regardless of the size of the business, Oracle Financials can
meet accounting management demands with:
• Oracle Assets: Ensures that an organization's property and
equipment investment is accurate and that the correct asset tax
accounting strategies are chosen.
• Oracle General Ledger: Offers a complete solution to journal
entry, budgeting, allocations, consolidation, and financial
reporting needs.
• Oracle Inventory: Helps an organization make better inventory
decisions by minimizing stock and maximizing cash flow.
• Oracle Order Entry: Provides organizations with a sophisticated
order entry system for managing customer commitments.
• Oracle Payables: Lets an organization process more invoices with
fewer staff members and tighter controls. Helps save money
through maximum discounts, bank float, and prevention of
duplicate payment.
• Oracle Personnel: Improves the management of employee-
related issues by retaining and making available every form of
personnel data.
• Oracle Purchasing: Improves buying power, helps negotiate
bigger discounts, eliminates paper flow, increases financial
controls, and increases productivity.
• Oracle Receivables:. Improves cash flow by letting an
organization process more payments faster, without off-line
research. Helps correctly account for cash, reduce outstanding
receivables, and improve collection effectiveness.
• Oracle Revenue Accounting Gives an organization timely and
accurate revenue and flexible commissions reporting.
• Oracle Sales Analysis: Allows for better forecasting, planning.
and reporting of sales information.
445. What are the design facilities available in forms 4.0?

Default Block facility.
Layout Editor.
Menu Editor.
Object Lists.
Property Sheets.
PL/SQL Editor.
Tables Columns Browser.
Built-ins Browser.
446. What is the most important module in Oracle Financials?

(for DBA
The General Ledger (GL) module is the basis for all other Oracle
Financial modules. All other modules provide information to it. If you
Page 61 of 153
implement Oracle Financials, you should switch your current GL system
first.GL is relatively easy to implement. You should go live with it first
to give your implementation team a chance to be familiar with Oracle
Financials.
447. What are the types of canvas-views?

Content View, Stacked View.
448. What is the MultiOrg and what is it used for? (for DBA
MultiOrg or Multiple Organizations Architecture allows multiple
operating units and their relationships to be defined within a single
installation of Oracle Applications. This keeps each operating unit's
transaction data separate and secure.
Use the following query to determine if MuliOrg is intalled:
select multi_org_flag from fnd_product_groups;
449. What is the difference between Fields and FlexFields? (for

DBA
A field is a position on a form that one uses to enter, view, update, or
delete information. A field prompt describes each field by telling what
kind of information appears in the field, or alternatively, what kind of
information should be entered in the field.
A flexfield is an Oracle Applications field made up of segments. Each
segment has an assigned name and a set of valid values. Oracle
Applications uses flexfields to capture information about your
organization. There are two types of flexfields: key flexfields and
descriptive flexfields.
450. Explain types of Block in forms4.0?

Base table Blocks.
Control Blocks.
1. A base table block is one that is associated with a specific database
table or view.
2. A control block is a block that is not associated with a database
table. ITEMS
451. What is an Alert?

An alert is a modal window that displays a message notifies the
operator of some application condition
455. What are the built-in routines is available in forms 4.0 to
create and manipulate a parameter list?
Add_parameter
Create_Parameter_list
Delete_parameter
Destroy_parameter_list
Get_parameter_attr
Get_parameter_list
set_parameter_attr
Page 62 of 153
456 .What is a record Group?
A record group is an internal oracle forms data structure that has a
similar column/row frame work to a database table
457 What is a Navigable item?

A navigable item is one that operators can navigate to with the
keyboard during default navigation, or that Oracle forms can navigate
to by executing a navigational built-in procedure.
458. What is a library in Forms 4.0?

A library is a collection of Pl/SQL program units, including user named
procedures, functions & packages
460. How image_items can be populate to field in forms 4.0?

A fetch from a long raw database column PL/Sql assignment to
executing the read_image_file built_in procedure to get an image from
the file system.
461. What is the content view and stacked view?

A content view is the "Base" view that occupies the entire content
pane of the window in which it is displayed. A stacked view differs from
a content canvas view in that it is not the base view for the window to
which it is assigned
462. What is a Check Box?
A Check Box is a two state control that indicates whether a certain
condition or value is on or off, true or false. The display state of a
check box is always either "checked" or "unchecked".
463. What is a canvas-view?

A canvas-view is the background object on which you layout the
interface items (text-items, check boxes, radio groups, and so on.) and
boilerplate objects that operators see and interact with as they run
your form. At run-time, operators can see only those items that have
been assigned to a specific canvas. Each canvas, in term, must be
displayed in a specific window.
464. Explain the following file extension related to library?

.pll,.lib,.pld
The library pll files is a portable design file comparable to an fmb form
file
The library lib file is a plat form specific, generated library file
comparable to a fmx form file
The pld file is Txt format file and can be used for source controlling
your library files Parameter
465. Explain the usage of WHERE CURRENT OF clause in

cursors ?
Page 63 of 153
WHERE CURRENT OF clause in an UPDATE,DELETE statement refers to
the latest row fetched from a cursor. Database Triggers
466. Name the tables where characteristics of Package,

procedure and functions are stored ?
User_objects, User_Source and User_error.
467. Explain the two type of Cursors ?

There are two types of cursors, Implicit Cursor and Explicit Cursor.
PL/SQL uses Implicit Cursors for queries. User defined cursors are
called Explicit Cursors. They can be declared and used.
468. What are two parts of package ?

The two parts of package are PACKAGE SPECIFICATION & PACKAGE
BODY. Package Specification contains declarations that are global to
the packages and local to the schema. Package Body contains actual
procedures and local declaration of the procedures and cursor
declarations.
469. What are two virtual tables available during database

trigger execution ?
The table columns are referred as OLD.column_name and
NEW.column_name.
For triggers related to INSERT only NEW.column_name values only
available.
For triggers related to UPDATE only OLD.column_name
NEW.column_name values only available.
For triggers related to DELETE only OLD.column_name values only
available.
470. What is Fine Grained Auditing? (for DBA
Fine Grained Auditing (DBMS_FGA) allows auditing records to be
generated when certain rows are selected from a table. A list of
defined policies can be obtained from DBA_AUDIT_POLICIES. Audit
records are stored in DBA_FGA_AUDIT_TRAIL. Look at this example:
o Add policy on table with autiting condition...
execute dbms_fga.add_policy('HR', 'EMP', 'policy1', 'deptno > 10');
o Must ANALYZE, this feature works with CBO (Cost Based Optimizer)
analyze table EMP compute statistics;
select * from EMP where c1 = 11; -- Will trigger auditing
select * from EMP where c1 = 09; -- No auditing
o Now we can see the statments that triggered the auditing condition...
select sqltext from sys.fga_log$;
delete from sys.fga_log$;
471. What is a package ? What are the advantages of packages

? What is Pragma EXECPTION_INIT ? Explain the usage ?
The PRAGMA EXECPTION_INIT tells the complier to associate an
exception with an oracle error. To get an error message of a specific
Page 64 of 153
oracle error. e.g. PRAGMA EXCEPTION_INIT (exception name, oracle
error number)
472. What is Fine Grained Access Control? (for DBA

See question "What is a Virtual Private Database".
473. What is a Virtual Private Database? (for DBA

Oracle 8i introduced the notion of a Virtual Private Database (VPD). A
VPD offers Fine-Grained Access Control (FGAC) for secure separation of
data. This ensures that users only have access to data that pertains to
them. Using this option, one could even store multiple companies' data
within the same schema, without them knowing about it. VPD
configuration is done via the DBMS_RLS (Row Level Security) package.
Select from SYS.V$VPD_POLICY to see existing VPD configuration.
474. What is Raise_application_error ?

Raise_application_error is a procedure of package DBMS_STANDARD
which allows to issue an user_defined error messages from stored sub-
program or database trigger.
475. What is Oracle Label Security? (for DBA

Oracle Label Security (formerly called Trusted Oracle MLS RDBMS) uses
the VPD (Virtual Private Database) feature of Oracle8i to implement
row level security. Access to rows are restricted according to a user's
security sensitivity tag or label. Oracle Label Security is configured,
controlled and managed from the Policy Manager, an Enterprise
Manager-based GUI utility.
476. Give the structure of the procedure ?

PROCEDURE name (parameter list.....)
is
local variable declarations
BEGIN
Executable statements.
Exception.
exception handlers
end;
477. What is OEM (Oracle Enterprise Manager)? (for DBA

OEM is a set of systems management tools provided by Oracle
Corporation for managing the Oracle environment. It provides tools to
monitor the Oracle environment and automate tasks (both one-time
and repetitive in nature) to take database administration a step closer
to "Lights Out" management.
478. Question What is PL/SQL ?
Page 65 of 153
PL/SQL is a procedural language that has both interactive SQL and
procedural programming language constructs such as iteration,
conditional branching.
479. What are the components of OEM? (for DBA

Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) has the following components:
. Management Server (OMS): Middle tier server that handles
communication with the intelligent agents. The OEM Console connects
to the management server to monitor and configure the Oracle
enterprise.
. Console: This is a graphical interface from where one can schedule
jobs, events, and monitor the database. The console can be opened
from a Windows workstation, Unix XTerm (oemapp command) or Web
browser session (oem_webstage).
. Intelligent Agent (OIA): The OIA runs on the target database and
takes care of the execution of jobs and events scheduled through the
Console.
481. Is it possible to use Transaction control Statements such
a ROLLBACK or COMMIT in Database Trigger ? Why ?
It is not possible. As triggers are defined for each table, if you use
COMMIT of ROLLBACK in a trigger, it affects logical transaction
processing.
482. How many types of database triggers can be specified on

a table ? What are they ?
Insert Update Delete
Before Row o.k. o.k. o.k.
After Row o.k. o.k. o.k.
Before Statement o.k. o.k. o.k.
After Statement o.k. o.k. o.k.
If FOR EACH ROW clause is specified, then the trigger for each Row
affected by the statement.
If WHEN clause is specified, the trigger fires according to the returned
Boolean value.
483. What are the modes of parameters that can be passed to

a procedure ?
IN,OUT,IN-OUT parameters.
484. Where the Pre_defined_exceptions are stored ?

In the standard package.
Procedures, Functions & Packages ;
485. Write the order of precedence for validation of a column

in a table ?
I. done using Database triggers.
ii. done using Integarity Constraints.?
I & ii.
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486. Give the structure of the function ?
FUNCTION name (argument list .....) Return datatype is
local variable declarations
Begin
executable statements
Exception
execution handlers
End;
487. Explain how procedures and functions are called in a

PL/SQL block ?
Function is called as part of an expression.
sal := calculate_sal ('a822');
procedure is called as a PL/SQL statement
calculate_bonus ('A822');
488. What are advantages fo Stored Procedures?

Extensibility,Modularity, Reusability, Maintainability and one time
compilation.
489. What is an Exception ? What are types of Exception ?

Exception is the error handling part of PL/SQL block. The types are
Predefined and user defined. Some of Predefined exceptions are.
CURSOR_ALREADY_OPEN
DUP_VAL_ON_INDEX
NO_DATA_FOUND
TOO_MANY_ROWS
INVALID_CURSOR
INVALID_NUMBER
LOGON_DENIED
NOT_LOGGED_ON
PROGRAM-ERROR
STORAGE_ERROR
TIMEOUT_ON_RESOURCE
VALUE_ERROR
ZERO_DIVIDE
OTHERS.
490. What are the PL/SQL Statements used in cursor
processing ?
DECLARE CURSOR cursor name, OPEN cursor name, FETCH cursor
name INTO or Record types, CLOSE cursor name.
491. What are the components of a PL/SQL Block ?

Declarative part, Executable part and Exception part.
Datatypes PL/SQL
Page 67 of 153
492. What is a database trigger ? Name some usages of
database trigger ?
Database trigger is stored PL/SQL program unit associated with a
specific database table. Usages are Audit data modifications, Log
events transparently, Enforce complex business rules Derive column
values automatically, Implement complex security authorizations.
Maintain replicate tables.
493. What is a cursor ? Why Cursor is required ?

Cursor is a named private SQL area from where information can be
accessed. Cursors are required to process rows individually for queries
returning multiple rows.
494. What is a cursor for loop ?

Cursor for loop implicitly declares %ROWTYPE as loop index,opens a
cursor, fetches rows of values from active set into fields in the record
and closes when all the records have been processed.
eg. FOR emp_rec IN C1 LOOP
salary_total := salary_total +emp_rec sal;
END LOOP;
495. What will happen after commit statement ?

Cursor C1 is
Select empno,
ename from emp;
Begin
open C1; loop
Fetch C1 into
eno.ename;
Exit When
C1 %notfound;-----
commit;
end loop;
end;
The cursor having query as SELECT .... FOR UPDATE gets closed after
COMMIT/ROLLBACK.
The cursor having query as SELECT.... does not get closed even after
COMMIT/ROLLBACK.
496. How packaged procedures and functions are called from

the following?
a. Stored procedure or anonymous block
b. an application program such a PRC *C, PRO* COBOL
c. SQL *PLUS??
a. PACKAGE NAME.PROCEDURE NAME (parameters);
variable := PACKAGE NAME.FUNCTION NAME (arguments);
EXEC SQL EXECUTE
b.BEGIN
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PACKAGE NAME.PROCEDURE NAME (parameters)
variable := PACKAGE NAME.FUNCTION NAME (arguments);
END;
END EXEC;
c. EXECUTE PACKAGE NAME.PROCEDURE if the procedures does not
have any out/in-out parameters. A function can not be called.
497. What is a stored procedure ?

A stored procedure is a sequence of statements that perform specific
function.
498. What are the components of a PL/SQL block ?

A set of related declarations and procedural statements is called block.
499. What is difference between a PROCEDURE & FUNCTION ?

A FUNCTION is always returns a value using the return statement.
A PROCEDURE may return one or more values through parameters or
may not return at all.
500. What is difference between a Cursor declared in a
procedure and Cursor declared in a package specification ?
A cursor declared in a package specification is global and can be
accessed by other procedures or procedures in a package.
A cursor declared in a procedure is local to the procedure that can not
be accessed by other procedures.
501. What are the cursor attributes used in PL/SQL ?

%ISOPEN - to check whether cursor is open or not
% ROWCOUNT - number of rows fetched/updated/deleted.
% FOUND - to check whether cursor has fetched any row. True if rows
are fetched.
% NOT FOUND - to check whether cursor has fetched any row. True if
no rows are featched.
These attributes are proceeded with SQL for Implicit Cursors and with
Cursor name for Explicit Cursors.
502. What are % TYPE and % ROWTYPE ? What are the

advantages of using these over datatypes?
% TYPE provides the data type of a variable or a database column to
that variable.
% ROWTYPE provides the record type that represents a entire row of a
table or view or columns selected in the cursor.
The advantages are :
I. Need not know about variable's data type
ii. If the database definition of a column in a table changes, the data
type of a variable changes accordingly.
503. What is difference between % ROWTYPE and TYPE

RECORD ?
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% ROWTYPE is to be used whenever query returns a entire row of a
table or view.
TYPE rec RECORD is to be used whenever query returns columns of
different table or views and variables.
E.g. TYPE r_emp is RECORD (eno emp.empno% type,ename emp
ename %type );
e_rec emp% ROWTYPE
cursor c1 is select empno,deptno from emp;
e_rec c1 %ROWTYPE.
504. What are the different types of PL/SQL program units that
can be defined and stored in ORACLE database ?
Procedures and Functions,Packages and Database Triggers.
505. What are the advantages of having a Package ?

Increased functionality (for example,global package variables can be
declared and used by any proecdure in the package) and performance
(for example all objects of the package are parsed compiled, and
loaded into memory once)
506. What are the uses of Database Trigger ?

Database triggers can be used to automatic data generation, audit
data modifications, enforce complex Integrity constraints, and
customize complex security authorizations.
507. What is a Procedure ?

A Procedure consist of a set of SQL and PL/SQL statements that are
grouped together as a unit to solve a specific problem or perform a set
of related tasks.
508. What is a Package ?

A Package is a collection of related procedures, functions, variables
and other package constructs together as a unit in the database.
509. What is difference between Procedures and Functions ?
A Function returns a value to the caller where as a Procedure does not.
510. What is Database Trigger ?

A Database Trigger is procedure (set of SQL and PL/SQL statements)
that is automatically executed as a result of an insert in,update to, or
delete from a table.
511. Can the default values be assigned to actual parameters?

Yes
512. Can a primary key contain more than one columns?

Yes
Page 70 of 153
513. What is an UTL_FILE.What are different procedures and
functions associated with it?
UTL_FILE is a package that adds the ability to read and write to
operating system files. Procedures associated with it are FCLOSE,
FCLOSE_ALL and 5 procedures to output data to a file PUT, PUT_LINE,
NEW_LINE, PUTF, FFLUSH.PUT, FFLUSH.PUT_LINE,FFLUSH.NEW_LINE.
Functions associated with it are FOPEN, ISOPEN.
514. What are ORACLE PRECOMPILERS?

Using ORACLE PRECOMPILERS, SQL statements and PL/SQL blocks can
be contained inside 3GL programs written in C,C++,COBOL,PASCAL,
FORTRAN,PL/1 AND ADA. The Precompilers are known as
Pro*C,Pro*Cobol,... This form of PL/SQL is known as embedded
pl/sql,the language in which pl/sql is embedded is known as the host
language. The prcompiler translates the embedded SQL and pl/sql
ststements into calls to the precompiler runtime library.The output
must be compiled and linked with this library to creater an executable.
515. Differentiate between TRUNCATE and DELETE?

TRUNCATE deletes much faster than DELETE
TRUNCATE
DELETE
It is a DDL statement
It is a DML statement
It is a one way trip,cannot ROLLBACK
One can Rollback
Doesn't have selective features (where clause)
Has
Doesn't fire database triggers
Does
It requires disabling of referential constraints.
516. What is difference between a formal and an actual

parameter?
The variables declared in the procedure and which are passed, as
arguments are called actual, the parameters in the procedure
declaration. Actual parameters contain the values that are passed to a
procedure and receive results. Formal parameters are the placeholders
for the values of actual parameters
517. What should be the return type for a cursor variable.Can
we use a scalar data type as return type?
The return type for a cursor must be a record type.It can be declared
explicitly as a user-defined or %ROWTYPE can be used. eg TYPE
t_studentsref IS REF CURSOR RETURN students%ROWTYPE
518. What are different Oracle database objects?

-TABLES
-VIEWS
Page 71 of 153
-INDEXES
-SYNONYMS
-SEQUENCES
-TABLESPACES etc
519. What is difference between SUBSTR and INSTR?

SUBSTR returns a specified portion of a string eg SUBSTR('BCDEF',4)
output BCDE INSTR provides character position in which a pattern is
found in a string. eg INSTR('ABC-DC-F','-',2) output 7 (2nd occurence of
'-')
520. Display the number value in Words?

SQL> select sal, (to_char(to_date(sal,'j'), 'jsp'))
from emp;
the output like,
SAL (TO_CHAR(TO_DATE(SAL,'J'),'JSP'))
--------- ----------------------------------------
800 eight hundred
1600 one thousand six hundred
1250 one thousand two hundred fifty
If you want to add some text like, Rs. Three Thousand only.
SQL> select sal "Salary ",
(' Rs. '|| (to_char(to_date(sal,'j'), 'Jsp'))|| ' only.'))
"Sal in Words" from emp
/
Salary Sal in Words
------- -----------------------------------------------
800 Rs. Eight Hundred only.
1600 Rs. One Thousand Six Hundred only.
1250 Rs. One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty only.
521. What is difference between SQL and SQL*PLUS?

SQL*PLUS is a command line tool where as SQL and PL/SQL language
interface and reporting tool. Its a command line tool that allows user to
type SQL commands to be executed directly against an Oracle
database. SQL is a language used to query the relational
database(DML,DCL,DDL). SQL*PLUS commands are used to format
query result, Set options, Edit SQL commands and PL/SQL.
522. What are various joins used while writing SUBQUERIES?

Self join-Its a join foreign key of a table references the same table.
Outer Join--Its a join condition used where One can query all the rows
of one of the tables in the join condition even though they don't satisfy
the join condition.
Equi-join--Its a join condition that retrieves rows from one or more
tables in which one or more columns in one table are equal to one or
more columns in the second table.
Page 72 of 153
523. What a SELECT FOR UPDATE cursor represent.?
SELECT......FROM......FOR......UPDATE[OF column-reference][NOWAIT]
The processing done in a fetch loop modifies the rows that have been
retrieved by the cursor. A convenient way of modifying the rows is
done by a method with two parts: the FOR UPDATE clause in the cursor
declaration, WHERE CURRENT OF CLAUSE in an UPDATE or declaration
statement.
524. What are various privileges that a user can grant to

another user?
-SELECT
-CONNECT
-RESOURCES
525. Display the records between two range?

select rownum, empno, ename from emp where rowid in (select rowid
from emp where rownum <=&upto minus select rowid from emp
where rownum<&Start);
526. minvalue.sql Select the Nth lowest value from a table?

select level, min('col_name') from my_table where level = '&n' connect
by prior ('col_name') < 'col_name')
group by level;
Example:
Given a table called emp with the following columns:
-- id number
-- name varchar2(20)
-- sal number
--
-- For the second lowest salary:
-- select level, min(sal) from emp
-- where level=2
-- connect by prior sal < sal
-- group by level
527. What is difference between Rename and Alias?
Rename is a permanent name given to a table or column whereas Alias
is a temporary name given to a table or column which do not exist
once the SQL statement is executed.
528. Difference between an implicit & an explicit cursor.?

only one row. However,queries that return more than one row you
must declare an explicit cursor or use a cursor FOR loop. Explicit cursor
is a cursor in which the cursor name is explicitly assigned to a SELECT
statement via the CURSOR...IS statement. An implicit cursor is used for
all SQL statements Declare, Open, Fetch, Close. An explicit cursors are
used to process multirow SELECT statements An implicit cursor is used
to process INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE and single row SELECT. .INTO
statements.
Page 73 of 153
529. What is a OUTER JOIN?
Outer Join--Its a join condition used where you can query all the rows of
one of the tables in the join condition even though they don’t satisfy
the join condition.
530. What is a cursor?

Oracle uses work area to execute SQL statements and store processing
information PL/SQL construct called a cursor lets you name a work area
and access its stored information A cursor is a mechanism used to
fetch more than one row in a Pl/SQl block.
531. What is the purpose of a cluster?

Oracle does not allow a user to specifically locate tables, since that is a
part of the function of the RDBMS. However, for the purpose of
increasing performance, oracle allows a developer to create a
CLUSTER. A CLUSTER provides a means for storing data from different
tables together for faster retrieval than if the table placement were left
to the RDBMS.
532. What is OCI. What are its uses?

Oracle Call Interface is a method of accesing database from a 3GL
program. Uses--No precompiler is required,PL/SQL blocks are executed
like other DML statements.
The OCI library provides
--functions to parse SQL statemets
--bind input variables
--bind output variables
--execute statements
--fetch the results
533. How you open and close a cursor variable.Why it is

required?
OPEN cursor variable FOR SELECT...Statement
CLOSE cursor variable In order to associate a cursor variable with a
particular SELECT statement OPEN syntax is used. In order to free the
resources used for the query CLOSE statement is used.
534. Display Odd/ Even number of records?

Odd number of records:
select * from emp where (rowid,1) in (select rowid, mod(rownum,2)
from emp);
Output:-
1
3
5
Even number of records:
select * from emp where (rowid,0) in (select rowid, mod(rownum,2)
Page 74 of 153
from emp)
Output:-
2
4
6
535. What are various constraints used in SQL?

-NULL
-NOT NULL
-CHECK
-DEFAULT
536. Can cursor variables be stored in PL/SQL tables.If yes
how. If not why?
No, a cursor variable points a row which cannot be stored in a two-
dimensional PL/SQL table.
537. Difference between NO DATA FOUND and %NOTFOUND?

NO DATA FOUND is an exception raised only for the SELECT....INTO
statements when the where clause of the querydoes not match any
rows. When the where clause of the explicit cursor does not match any
rows the %NOTFOUND attribute is set to TRUE instead.
538. Can you use a commit statement within a database

trigger?
No
539. What WHERE CURRENT OF clause does in a cursor?

LOOP
SELECT num_credits INTO v_numcredits FROM classes
WHERE dept=123 and course=101;
UPDATE students
FHKO;;;;;;;;;SET current_credits=current_credits+v_numcredits
WHERE CURRENT OF X;
540. There is a string 120000 12 0 .125 , how you will find the
position of the decimal place?
INSTR('120000 12 0 .125',1,'.')
output 13
541. What are different modes of parameters used in functions

and procedures?
-IN -OUT -INOUT
542. How you were passing cursor variables in PL/SQL 2.2?

In PL/SQL 2.2 cursor variables cannot be declared in a package.This is
because the storage for a cursor variable has to be allocated using
Pro*C or OCI with version 2.2, the only means of passing a cursor
Page 75 of 153
variable to a PL/SQL block is via bind variable or a procedure
parameter.
543. When do you use WHERE clause and when do you use
HAVING clause?
HAVING clause is used when you want to specify a condition for a
group function and it is written after GROUP BY clause. The WHERE
clause is used when you want to specify a condition for columns, single
row functions except group functions and it is written before GROUP BY
clause if it is used.
544. Difference between procedure and function.?

Functions are named PL/SQL blocks that return a value and can be
called with arguments procedure a named block that can be called
with parameter. A procedure all is a PL/SQL statement by itself, while a
Function call is called as part of an expression.
545. Which is more faster - IN or EXISTS?

EXISTS is more faster than IN because EXISTS returns a Boolean value
whereas IN returns a value.
546. What is syntax for dropping a procedure and a function
.Are these operations possible?
Drop Procedure procedure_name
Drop Function function_name
547. How will you delete duplicating rows from a base table?
delete from table_name where rowid not in (select max(rowid) from
table group by duplicate_values_field_name); or delete
duplicate_values_field_name dv from table_name ta where rowid
<(select min(rowid) from table_name tb where ta.dv=tb.dv);
548. Difference between database triggers and form triggers?

-Data base trigger(DBT) fires when a DML operation is performed on a
data base table. Form trigger(FT) Fires when user presses a key or
navigates between fields on the screen
-Can be row level or statement level No distinction between row level
and statement level.
-Can manipulate data stored in Oracle tables via SQL Can manipulate
data in Oracle tables as well as variables in forms.
-Can be fired from any session executing the triggering DML
statements. Can be fired only from the form that define the trigger.
-Can cause other database triggers to fire.Can cause other database
triggers to fire, but not other form triggers.
549. What is a cursor for loop?

Cursor For Loop is a loop where oracle implicitly declares a loop
variable, the loop index that of the same record type as the cursor's
record.
Page 76 of 153
550. How you will avoid duplicating records in a query?
By using DISTINCT
551. What is a view ?

A view is stored procedure based on one or more tables, it’s a virtual
table.
552. What is difference between UNIQUE and PRIMARY KEY

constraints?
A table can have only one PRIMARY KEY whereas there can be any
number of UNIQUE keys. The columns that compose PK are
automatically define NOT NULL, whereas a column that compose a
UNIQUE is not automatically defined to be mandatory must also specify
the column is NOT NULL.
553. What is use of a cursor variable? How it is defined?

A cursor variable is associated with different statements at run time,
which can hold different values at run time. Static cursors can only be
associated with one run time query. A cursor variable is reference type
(like a pointer in C).
Declaring a cursor variable:
TYPE type_name IS REF CURSOR RETURN return_type type_name is the
name of the reference type,return_type is a record type indicating the
types of the select list that will eventually be returned by the cursor
variable.
554. How do you find the numbert of rows in a Table ?
A bad answer is count them (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table_name)
A good answer is :-
'By generating SQL to ANALYZE TABLE table_name COUNT STATISTICS
by querying Oracle System Catalogues (e.g. USER_TABLES or
ALL_TABLES).
The best answer is to refer to the utility which Oracle released which
makes it unnecessary to do ANALYZE TABLE for each Table
individually.
555. What is the maximum buffer size that can be specified

using the DBMS_OUTPUT.ENABLE function?
1,000,00
556. What are cursor attributes?

-%ROWCOUNT
-%NOTFOUND
-%FOUND
-%ISOPEN
557. There is a % sign in one field of a column. What will be

the query to find it?
Page 77 of 153
'' Should be used before '%'.
558. What is ON DELETE CASCADE ?

When ON DELETE CASCADE is specified ORACLE maintains referential
integrity by automatically removing dependent foreign key values if a
referenced primary or unique key value is removed.
559. What is the fastest way of accessing a row in a table ?

Using ROWID.CONSTRAINTS
560. What is difference between TRUNCATE & DELETE ?

TRUNCATE commits after deleting entire table i.e., can not be rolled
back. Database triggers do not fire on TRUNCATEDELETE allows the
filtered deletion. Deleted records can be rolled back or
committed.Database triggers fire on DELETE.
561. What is a transaction ?

Transaction is logical unit between two commits and commit and
rollback.
562. What are the advantages of VIEW ?

To protect some of the columns of a table from other users.To hide
complexity of a query.To hide complexity of calculations.
563. How will you a activate/deactivate integrity constraints ?

The integrity constraints can be enabled or disabled by ALTER TABLE
ENABLE constraint/DISABLE constraint.
564. Where the integrity constraints are stored in Data

Dictionary ?
The integrity constraints are stored in USER_CONSTRAINTS.
565. What is the Subquery ?

Sub query is a query whose return values are used in filtering
conditions of the main query.
566. How to access the current value and next value from a
sequence ? Is it possible to access the current value in a
session before accessing next value ?
Sequence name CURRVAL, Sequence name NEXTVAL.It is not possible.
Only if you access next value in the session, current value can be
accessed.
567. What are the usage of SAVEPOINTS ?value in a session

before accessing next value ?
SAVEPOINTS are used to subdivide a transaction into smaller parts. It
enables rolling back part of a transaction. Maximum of five save points
are allowed.
Page 78 of 153
568. What is ROWID ?in a session before accessing next value ?
ROWID is a pseudo column attached to each row of a table. It is 18
character long, blockno, rownumber are the components of ROWID.
569. Explain Connect by Prior ?in a session before accessing

next value ?
Retrieves rows in hierarchical order.e.g. select empno, ename from
emp where.
570. How many LONG columns are allowed in a table ? Is it

possible to use LONG columns in WHERE clause or ORDER BY ?
Only one LONG columns is allowed. It is not possible to use LONG
column in WHERE or ORDER BY clause.
571. What is Referential Integrity ?

Maintaining data integrity through a set of rules that restrict the values
of one or more columns of the tables based on the values of primary
key or unique key of the referenced table.
572. What is a join ? Explain the different types of joins ?

Join is a query which retrieves related columns or rows from multiple
tables.Self Join - Joining the table with itself.Equi Join - Joining two
tables by equating two common columns.Non-Equi Join - Joining two
tables by equating two common columns.Outer Join - Joining two tables
in such a way that query can also retrieve rows that do not have
corresponding join value in the other table.
573. If an unique key constraint on DATE column is created,

will it validate the rows that are inserted with SYSDATE ?
It won't, Because SYSDATE format contains time attached with it.
574. How does one stop and start the OMS? (for DBA
Use the following command sequence to stop and start the OMS
(Oracle Management Server):
oemctl start oms
oemctl status oms sysman/oem_temp
oemctl stop oms sysman/oem_temp
Windows NT/2000 users can just stop and start the required services.
The default OEM administrator is "sysman" with a password of
"oem_temp".
NOTE: Use command oemctrl instead of oemctl for Oracle 8i and
below.
575. What is an Integrity Constraint ?

Integrity constraint is a rule that restricts values to a column in a table.
576. How does one create a repository? (for DBA

For OEM v2 and above, start the Oracle Enterprise Manager
Configuration Assistant (emca on Unix) to create and configure the
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management server and repository. Remember to setup a backup for
the repository database after creating it.
577. If a View on a single base table is manipulated will the

changes be reflected on the base table ?
If changes are made to the tables which are base tables of a view will
the changes be reference on the view.
578. The following describes means to create a OEM V1.x (very

old!!!) repository on WindowsNT:
. Create a tablespace that would hold the repository data. A size
between 200- 250 MB would be ideal. Let us call it Dummy_Space.
. Create an Oracle user who would own this repository. Assign DBA,
SNMPAgent, Exp_Full_database, Imp_Full_database roles to this user.
Lets call this user Dummy_user. Assign Dummy_Space as the default
tablespace.
. Create an operating system user with the same name as the Oracle
username. I.e. Dummy_User. Add 'Log on as a batch job' under
advanced rights in User manager.
. Fire up Enterprise manager and log in as Dummy_User and enter the
password. This would trigger the creation of the repository. From now
on, Enterprise manager is ready to accept jobs.
579. What is a database link ?

Database Link is a named path through which a remote database can
be accessed.
580. How does one list one's databases in the OEM Console?
(for DBA
Follow these steps to discover databases and other services from the
OEM Console:
1. Ensure the GLOBAL_DBNAME parameter is set for all databases in
your LISTENER.ORA file (optional). These names will be listed in the
OEM Console. Please note that names entered are case sensitive. A
portion of a listener.ora file:
(SID_DESC =
(GLOBAL_DBNAME = DB_name_for_OEM)
(SID_NAME = ...
2. Start the Oracle Intelligent Agent on the machine you want to
discover. See section "How does one start the Oracle Intelligent
Agent?".
3. Start the OEM Console, navigate to menu "Navigator/ Discover
Nodes". The OEM Discovery Wizard will guide you through the process
of discovering your databases and other services.
581. What is CYCLE/NO CYCLE in a Sequence ?

CYCLE specifies that the sequence continues to generate values after
reaching either maximum or minimum value. After pan ascending
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sequence reaches its maximum value, it generates its minimum value.
After a descending sequence reaches its minimum, it generates its
maximum.NO CYCLE specifies that the sequence cannot generate
more values after reaching its maximum or minimum value.
582. What is correlated sub-query ?

Correlated sub query is a sub query which has reference to the main
query.
583. What are the data types allowed in a table ?

CHAR,VARCHAR2,NUMBER,DATE,RAW,LONG and LONG RAW.
584. What is difference between CHAR and VARCHAR2 ? What

is the maximum SIZE allowed for each type ?
CHAR pads blank spaces to the maximum length. VARCHAR2 does not
pad blank spaces. For CHAR it is 255 and 2000 for VARCHAR2.
585. Can a view be updated/inserted/deleted? If Yes under

what conditions ?
A View can be updated/deleted/inserted if it has only one base table if
the view is based on columns from one or more tables then insert,
update and delete is not possible.
586. What are the different types of Coordinations of the
Master with the Detail block?
POPULATE_GROUP(function)
POPULATE_GROUP_WITH_QUERY(function)
SET_GROUP_CHAR_CELL(procedure)
SET_GROUPCELL(procedure)
SET_GROUP_NUMBER_CELL(procedure)
587. Use the ADD_GROUP_COLUMN function to add a column to

a record group that was created at design time? I) TRUE
II)FALSE
II) FALSE
588. Use the ADD_GROUP_ROW procedure to add a row to a

static record group? I) TRUE II)FALSE
I) FALSE
589. maxvalue.sql Select the Nth Highest value from a table?

select level, max('col_name') from my_table where level = '&n'
connect by prior ('col_name') > 'col_name')
group by level;
Example:
Given a table called emp with the following columns:
-- id number
-- name varchar2(20)
-- sal number
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--
-- For the second highest salary:
-- select level, max(sal) from emp
-- where level=2
-- connect by prior sal > sal
-- group by level
590. Find out nth highest salary from emp table?

SELECT DISTINCT (a.sal) FROM EMP A WHERE &N = (SELECT COUNT
(DISTINCT (b.sal)) FROM EMP B WHERE a.sal<=b.sal);
For Eg:-
Enter value for n: 2
SAL
---------
3700
591. Suppose a customer table is having different columns like

customer no, payments.What will be the query to select top
three max payments?
SELECT customer_no, payments from customer C1
WHERE 3<=(SELECT COUNT(*) from customer C2
WHERE C1.payment <= C2.payment)
592. How you will avoid your query from using indexes?
SELECT * FROM emp
Where emp_no+' '=12345;
i.e you have to concatenate the column name with space within codes
in the where condition.
SELECT /*+ FULL(a) */ ename, emp_no from emp
where emp_no=1234;
i.e using HINTS
593. What utility is used to create a physical backup?

Either rman or alter tablespace begin backup will do..
594. What are the Back ground processes in Oracle and what
are they.
This is one of the most frequently asked question.There are basically 9
Processes but in a general system we need to mention the first five
background processes.They do the house keeping activities for the
Oracle and are common in any system.
The various background processes in oracle are
a) Data Base Writer(DBWR) :: Data Base Writer Writes Modified blocks
from Database buffer cache to Data Files.This is required since the
data is not written whenever a transaction is commited.
b)LogWriter(LGWR) :: LogWriter writes the redo log entries to disk.
Redo Log data is generated in redo log buffer of SGA. As transaction
commits and log buffer fills, LGWR writes log entries into a online redo
log file.
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c) System Monitor(SMON) :: The System Monitor performs instance
recovery at instance startup.This is useful for recovery from system
failure
d)Process Monitor(PMON) :: The Process Monitor peforms process
recovery when user Process fails. Pmon Clears and Frees resources
that process was using.
e) CheckPoint(CKPT) :: At Specified times, all modified database buffers
in SGA are written to data files by DBWR at Checkpoints and Updating
all data files and control files of database to indicate the most recent
checkpoint
f)Archieves(ARCH) :: The Archiver copies online redo log files to
archival storal when they are busy.
g) Recoveror(RECO) :: The Recoveror is used to resolve the distributed
transaction in network
h) Dispatcher (Dnnn) :: The Dispatcher is useful in Multi Threaded
Architecture
i) Lckn :: We can have upto 10 lock processes for inter instance locking
in parallel sql.
595. How many types of Sql Statements are there in Oracle

There are basically 6 types of sql statments.They are
a) Data Defination Language(DDL) :: The DDL statments define and
maintain objects and drop objects.
b) Data Manipulation Language(DML) :: The DML statments manipulate
database data.
c) Transaction Control Statements :: Manage change by DML
d) Session Control :: Used to control the properties of current session
enabling and disabling roles and changing .e.g :: Alter Statements,Set
Role
e) System Control Statements :: Change Properties of Oracle
Instance .e.g:: Alter System
f) Embedded Sql :: Incorporate DDL,DML and T.C.S in Programming
Language.e.g:: Using the Sql Statements in languages such as 'C',
Open,Fetch, execute and close
596. What is a Transaction in Oracle

A transaction is a Logical unit of work that compromises one or more
SQL Statements executed by a single User. According to ANSI, a
transaction begins with first executable statment and ends when it is
explicitly commited or rolled back.
597. Key Words Used in Oracle

The Key words that are used in Oracle are ::
a) Commiting :: A transaction is said to be commited when the
transaction makes permanent changes resulting from the SQL
statements.
b) Rollback :: A transaction that retracts any of the changes resulting
from SQL statements in Transaction.
Page 83 of 153
c) SavePoint :: For long transactions that contain many SQL
statements, intermediate markers or savepoints are declared.
Savepoints can be used to divide a transactino into smaller points.
d) Rolling Forward :: Process of applying redo log during recovery is
called rolling forward.
e) Cursor :: A cursor is a handle ( name or a pointer) for the memory
associated with a specific stament. A cursor is basically an area
allocated by Oracle for executing the Sql Statement. Oracle uses an
implicit cursor statement for Single row query and Uses Explcit cursor
for a multi row query.
f) System Global Area(SGA) :: The SGA is a shared memory region
allocated by the Oracle that contains Data and control information for
one Oracle Instance.It consists of Database Buffer Cache and Redo log
Buffer.
g) Program Global Area (PGA) :: The PGA is a memory buffer that
contains data and control information for server process.
g) Database Buffer Cache :: Databese Buffer of SGA stores the most
recently used blocks of datatbase data.The set of database buffers in
an instance is called Database Buffer Cache.
h) Redo log Buffer :: Redo log Buffer of SGA stores all the redo log
entries.
i) Redo Log Files :: Redo log files are set of files that protect altered
database data in memory that has not been written to Data Files. They
are basically used for backup when a database crashes.
j) Process :: A Process is a 'thread of control' or mechansim in
Operating System that executes series of steps.
598. What are Procedure,functions and Packages
Procedures and functions consist of set of PL/SQL statements that are
grouped together as a unit to solve a specific problem or perform set
of related tasks.
Procedures do not Return values while Functions return one One Value
Packages :: Packages Provide a method of encapsulating and storing
related procedures, functions, variables and other Package Contents
599. What are Database Triggers and Stored Procedures

Database Triggers :: Database Triggers are Procedures that are
automatically executed as a result of insert in, update to, or delete
from table.
Database triggers have the values old and new to denote the old value
in the table before it is deleted and the new indicated the new value
that will be used. DT are useful for implementing complex business
rules which cannot be enforced using the integrity rules.We can have
the trigger as Before trigger or After Trigger and at Statement or Row
level. e.g:: operations insert,update ,delete 3 before ,after 3*2 A total
of 6 combinatons
At statment level(once for the trigger) or row level( for every execution
) 6 * 2 A total of 12. Thus a total of 12 combinations are there and the
restriction of usage of 12 triggers has been lifted from Oracle 7.3
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Onwards.
Stored Procedures :: Stored Procedures are Procedures that are stored
in Compiled form in the database.The advantage of using the stored
procedures is that many users can use the same procedure in
compiled and ready to use format.
600. How many Integrity Rules are there and what are they
There are Three Integrity Rules. They are as follows ::
a) Entity Integrity Rule :: The Entity Integrity Rule enforces that the
Primary key cannot be Null
b) Foreign Key Integrity Rule :: The FKIR denotes that the relationship
between the foreign key and the primary key has to be enforced.When
there is data in Child Tables the Master tables cannot be deleted.
c) Business Integrity Rules :: The Third Intigrity rule is about the
complex business processes which cannot be implemented by the
above 2 rules.
601. What are the Various Master and Detail Relation ships.
The various Master and Detail Relationship are
a) NonIsolated :: The Master cannot be deleted when a child is exisiting
b) Isolated :: The Master can be deleted when the child is exisiting
c) Cascading :: The child gets deleted when the Master is deleted.
602. What are the Various Block Coordination Properties

The various Block Coordination Properties are
a) Immediate Default Setting. The Detail records are shown when the
Master Record are shown.
b) Deffered with Auto Query Oracle Forms defer fetching the detail
records until the operator navigates to the detail block.
c) Deffered with No Auto Query The operator must navigate to the
detail block and explicitly execute a query
603. What is in all those X$ tables? (for DBA
The following list attempts to describe some x$ tables. The list may not
be complete or accurate, but represents an attempt to figure out what
information they contain. One should generally not write queries
against these tables as they are internal to Oracle, and Oracle may
change them without any prior notification.
Kernel 2 Phase Commit Global Transaction Entry
X$K2GTE2
Fixed Table
Kernel 2 Phase Commit Global Transaction Entry
X$K2GTE
Fixed Table
Buffer headers contain information describing the
X$BH
current contents of a piece of the buffer cache
X$KCBCBH Cache Buffer Current Buffer Header Fixed Table. It
can predict the potential loss of decreasing the
number of database buffers. The
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db_block_lru_statistics parameter has to be set to
true to gather information in this table.
X$KCVFH File Header Fixed Table
X$KDNCE SGA Cache Entry Fixed Table
X$KDNST Sequence Cache Statistics Fixed Table
X$KDXHS Histogram structure Fixed Table
X$KDXST Statistics collection Fixed Table
One-row summary of LRU statistics for the shared
X$KGHLU
pool
X$KGLBODY Derived from X$KGLOB (col kglhdnsp = 2)
X$KGLCLUSTER Derived from X$KGLOB (col kglhdnsp = 5)
X$KGLINDEX Derived from X$KGLOB (col kglhdnsp = 4)
Latch Clean-up state for library cache objects
X$KGLLC
Fixed Table
X$KGLPN Library cache pin Fixed Table
X$KGLTABLE Derived from X$KGLOB (col kglhdnsp = 1)
X$KGLTR Library Cache Translation Table entry Fixed Table
X$KGLTRIGGER Derived from X$KGLOB (col kglhdnsp = 3)
X$KGLXS Library Cache Access Table
Fixed table to look at what databases are
X$KKMMD
mounted and their status
X$KKSBV Cursor Cache Bind Variables
Each row represents a piece of memory in the
X$KSMSP
shared pool
X$KSQDN Global database name
X$KSQST Enqueue statistics by type
Cost function for each Kernel Profile (join to
X$KSUCF
X$KSUPL)
X$KSUPL Resource Limit for each Kernel Profile
Resource Usage for each Kernel Profile (join with
X$KSURU
X$KSUPL)
X$KSQST Gets and waits for different types of enqueues
Indicate tablespace that has valid save undo
X$KTTVS
segments
Internal instance parameters set at instance
X$KVII
initialization
X$KVIS Oracle Data Block (size_t type) variables
X$KVIT Instance internal flags, variables and parameters
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that can change during the life of an instance
X$KXFPCDS Client Dequeue Statistics
X$KXFPCMS Client Messages Statistics
Represent an os role as defined by the operating
X$KZDOS
system
X$KZSRO Security state Role: List of enabled roles
Lock Element: each PCM lock that is used by the
X$LE
buffer cache (gc_db_locks)
Displays all the different messages that can be
X$MESSAGES
sent to the Background processes
X$NLS_PARAMETERS NLS database parameters
Handy X$table queries

Some handy queries based on the X$ memory tables:
. Largest # blocks you can write at any given time:
select kviival write_batch_size
from x$kvii where kviitag = 'kcbswc';
. See the gets and waits for different types of enqueues:
select * from x$ksqst
where ksqstget > 0;
Oracle Kernel Subsystems
Listed below are some of the important subsystems in the Oracle
kernel. This table might help you to read those dreaded trace files and
internal messages. For example, if you see messages like this, you will
at least know where they come from: OPIRIP: Uncaught error 447. Error
stack:
KCF: write/open error block=0x3e800 online=1
OPI Oracle Program Interface

KK Compilation Layer - Parse SQL, compile PL/SQL
Execution Layer - Bind and execute SQL and
KX
PL/SQL
K2 Distributed Execution Layer - 2PC handling
NPI Network Program Interface
KZ Security Layer - Validate privs
KQ Query Layer
RPI Recursive Program Interface
KA Access Layer
KD Data Layer
KT Transaction Layer
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KC Cache Layer
KS Services Layer
KJ Lock Manager Layer
KG Generic Layer
KV Kernel Variables (eg. x$KVIS and X$KVII)
S or
Operating System Dependencies
ODS
604. What are the Different Optimisation Techniques

The Various Optimisation techniques are
a) Execute Plan :: we can see the plan of the query and change it
accordingly based on the indexes
b) Optimizer_hint ::
set_item_property('DeptBlock',OPTIMIZER_HINT,'FIRST_ROWS');
Select /*+ First_Rows */ Deptno,Dname,Loc,Rowid from dept
where (Deptno > 25)
c) Optimize_Sql ::
By setting the Optimize_Sql = No, Oracle Forms assigns a single cursor
for all SQL statements.This slow downs the processing because for
evertime the SQL must be parsed whenver they are executed.
f45run module = my_firstform userid = scott/tiger optimize_sql = No
d) Optimize_Tp ::
By setting the Optimize_Tp= No, Oracle Forms assigns seperate cursor
only for each query SELECT statement. All other SQL statements reuse
the cursor.
f45run module = my_firstform userid = scott/tiger optimize_Tp = No
605. How does one change an Oracle user's password?(for DBA
Issue the following SQL command:
ALTER USER <username> IDENTIFIED BY <new_password>;
From Oracle8 you can just type "password" from SQL*Plus, or if you
need to change another user's password, type "password user_name".
SQL> password
Changing password for SCOTT
Old password:
New password:
Retype new password:
606. How does one create and drop database users?

Look at these examples:
CREATE USER scott
IDENTIFIED BY tiger -- Assign password
DEFAULT TABLESACE tools -- Assign space for table and index
segments
TEMPORARY TABLESPACE temp; -- Assign sort space
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DROP USER scott CASCADE; -- Remove user
After creating a new user, assign the required privileges:
GRANT CONNECT, RESOURCE TO scott;
GRANT DBA TO scott; -- Make user a DB Administrator
Remember to give the user some space quota on its tablespaces:
ALTER USER scott QUOTA UNLIMITED ON tools;
607. Who created all these users in my database?/ Can I drop

this user? (for DBA
Oracle creates a number of default database users or schemas when a
new database is created. Below are a few of them:
SYS/CHANGE_ON_INSTALL or INTERNAL
Oracle Data Dictionary/ Catalog
Created by: ?/rdbms/admin/sql.bsq and various cat*.sql scripts
Can password be changed: Yes (Do so right after the database was
created)
Can user be dropped: NO
SYSTEM/MANAGER
The default DBA user name (please do not use SYS)
Created by: ?/rdbms/admin/sql.bsq
created)
OUTLN/OUTLN
Stored outlines for optimizer plan stability
Created by: ?/rdbms/admin/sql.bsq
created)
SCOTT/TIGER, ADAMS/WOOD, JONES/STEEL, CLARK/CLOTH and
BLAKE/PAPER.
Training/ demonstration users containing the popular EMP and DEPT
tables
Created by: ?/rdbms/admin/utlsampl.sql
Can password be changed: Yes
Can user be dropped: YES - Drop users cascade from all production
environments
HR/HR (Human Resources), OE/OE (Order Entry), SH/SH (Sales History).
Training/ demonstration users containing the popular EMPLOYEES and
DEPARTMENTS tables
Created by: ?/demo/schema/mksample.sql
Can password be changed: Yes
Can user be dropped: YES - Drop users cascade from all production
environments
CTXSYS/CTXSYS
Oracle interMedia (ConText Cartridge) administrator user
Created by: ?/ctx/admin/dr0csys.sql
TRACESVR/TRACE
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Oracle Trace server
Created by: ?/rdbms/admin/otrcsvr.sql
DBSNMP/DBSNMP
Oracle Intelligent agent
Created by: ?/rdbms/admin/catsnmp.sql, called from catalog.sql
Can password be changed: Yes - put the new password in snmp_rw.ora
file
Can user be dropped: YES - Only if you do not use the Intelligent
Agents
ORDPLUGINS/ORDPLUGINS
Object Relational Data (ORD) User used by Time Series, etc.
Created by: ?/ord/admin/ordinst.sql
ORDSYS/ORDSYS
Object Relational Data (ORD) User used by Time Series, etc
DSSYS/DSSYS
Oracle Dynamic Services and Syndication Server
Created by: ?/ds/sql/dssys_init.sql
MDSYS/MDSYS
Oracle Spatial administrator user
AURORA$ORB$UNAUTHENTICATED/INVALID
Used for users who do not authenticate in Aurora/ORB
Created by: ?/javavm/install/init_orb.sql called
from ?/javavm/install/initjvm.sql
PERFSTAT/PERFSTAT
Oracle Statistics Package (STATSPACK) that supersedes
UTLBSTAT/UTLESTAT
Created by: ?/rdbms/admin/statscre.sql
Remember to change the passwords for the SYS and SYSTEM users
immediately after installation!
Except for the user SYS, there should be no problem altering these
users to use a different default and temporary tablespace.
608. How does one enforce strict password control? (for DBA
By default Oracle's security is not extremely good. For example, Oracle
will allow users to choose single character passwords and passwords
that match their names and userids. Also, passwords don't ever expire.
This means that one can hack an account for years without ever
locking the user.
From Oracle8 one can manage passwords through profiles. Some of
the things that one can restrict:
. FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS - failed login attempts before the account is
locked
. PASSWORD_LIFE_TIME - limits the number of days the same password
can be used for authentication
. PASSWORD_REUSE_TIME - number of days before a password can be
reused
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. PASSWORD_REUSE_MAX - number of password changes required
before the current password can be reused
. PASSWORD_LOCK_TIME - number of days an account will be locked
after maximum failed login attempts
. PASSWORD_GRACE_TIME - number of days after the grace period
begins during which a warning is issued and login is allowed
. PASSWORD_VERIFY_FUNCTION - password complexity verification
script
Look at this simple example:
CREATE PROFILE my_profile LIMIT
PASSWORD_LIFE_TIME 30;
ALTER USER scott PROFILE my_profile;
609. How does one switch to another user in Oracle? (for DBA
Users normally use the "connect" statement to connect from one
database user to another. However, DBAs can switch from one user to
another without a password. Of course it is not advisable to bridge
Oracle's security, but look at this example: SQL> select password from
dba_users where username='SCOTT';
PASSWORD
F894844C34402B67
SQL> alter user scott identified by lion;
User altered.
SQL> connect scott/lion

Connected.
REM Do whatever you like...

SQL> connect system/manager
Connected.
SQL> alter user scott identified by values 'F894844C34402B67';

User altered.
SQL> connect scott/tiger
Connected.
Note: Also see the su.sql script in the Useful Scripts and Sample
Programs Page.
610. What are snap shots and views
Snapshots are mirror or replicas of tables. Views are built using the
columns from one or more tables. The Single Table View can be
updated but the view with multi table cannot be updated
611. What are the OOPS concepts in Oracle.

Oracle does implement the OOPS concepts. The best example is the
Property Classes. We can categorise the properties by setting the
visual attributes and then attach the property classes for the objects.
OOPS supports the concepts of objects and classes and we can
consider the peroperty classes as classes and the items as objects
Page 91 of 153
612. What is the difference between candidate key, unique key
and primary key
Candidate keys are the columns in the table that could be the primary
keys and the primary key is the key that has been selected to identify
the rows. Unique key is also useful for identifying the distinct rows in
the table.)
613. What is concurrency

Cuncurrency is allowing simultaneous access of same data by different
users. Locks useful for accesing the database are
a) Exclusive
The exclusive lock is useful for locking the row when an insert,update
or delete is being done.This lock should not be applied when we do
only select from the row.
b) Share lock
We can do the table as Share_Lock as many share_locks can be put on
the same resource.
614. Previleges and Grants

Previleges are the right to execute a particulare type of SQL
statements. e.g :: Right to Connect, Right to create, Right to resource
Grants are given to the objects so that the object might be accessed
accordingly.The grant has to be given by the owner of the object.
615. Table Space,Data Files,Parameter File, Control Files
Table Space :: The table space is useful for storing the data in the
database.When a database is created two table spaces are created.
a) System Table space :: This data file stores all the tables related to
the system and dba tables
b) User Table space :: This data file stores all the user related tables
We should have seperate table spaces for storing the tables and
indexes so that the access is fast.
Data Files :: Every Oracle Data Base has one or more physical data
files.They store the data for the database.Every datafile is associated
with only one database.Once the Data file is created the size cannot
change.To increase the size of the database to store more data we
have to add data file.
Parameter Files :: Parameter file is needed to start an instance.A
parameter file contains the list of instance configuration parameters
e.g.::
db_block_buffers = 500
db_name = ORA7
db_domain = u.s.acme lang
Control Files :: Control files record the physical structure of the data
files and redo log files
They contain the Db name, name and location of dbs, data files ,redo
log files and time stamp.
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616. Physical Storage of the Data
The finest level of granularity of the data base are the data blocks.
Data Block :: One Data Block correspond to specific number of physical
database space
Extent :: Extent is the number of specific number of contigious data
blocks.
Segments :: Set of Extents allocated for Extents. There are three types
of Segments
a) Data Segment :: Non Clustered Table has data segment data of
every table is stored in cluster data segment
b) Index Segment :: Each Index has index segment that stores data
c) Roll Back Segment :: Temporarily store 'undo' information
617. What are the Pct Free and Pct Used

Pct Free is used to denote the percentage of the free space that is to
be left when creating a table. Similarly Pct Used is used to denote the
percentage of the used space that is to be used when creating a table
eg.:: Pctfree 20, Pctused 40
618. What is Row Chaining

The data of a row in a table may not be able to fit the same data
block.Data for row is stored in a chain of data blocks .
619. What is a 2 Phase Commit

Two Phase commit is used in distributed data base systems. This is
useful to maintain the integrity of the database so that all the users
see the same values. It contains DML statements or Remote Procedural
calls that reference a remote object. There are basically 2 phases in a
2 phase commit.
a) Prepare Phase :: Global coordinator asks participants to prepare
b) Commit Phase :: Commit all participants to coordinator to Prepared,
Read only or abort Reply
620. What is the difference between deleting and truncating of
tables
Deleting a table will not remove the rows from the table but entry is
there in the database dictionary and it can be retrieved But truncating
a table deletes it completely and it cannot be retrieved.
621. What are mutating tables

When a table is in state of transition it is said to be mutating. eg :: If a
row has been deleted then the table is said to be mutating and no
operations can be done on the table except select.
622. What are Codd Rules

Codd Rules describe the ideal nature of a RDBMS. No RDBMS satisfies
all the 12 codd rules and Oracle Satisfies 11 of the 12 rules and is the
only Rdbms to satisfy the maximum number of rules.
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623. What is Normalisation
Normalisation is the process of organising the tables to remove the
redundancy.There are mainly 5 Normalisation rules.
a) 1 Normal Form :: A table is said to be in 1st Normal Form when the
attributes are atomic
b) 2 Normal Form :: A table is said to be in 2nd Normal Form when all
the candidate keys are dependant on the primary key
c) 3rd Normal Form :: A table is said to be third Normal form when it is
not dependant transitively
624. What is the Difference between a post query and a pre

query
A post query will fire for every row that is fetched but the pre query will
fire only once.
625. Deleting the Duplicate rows in the table

We can delete the duplicate rows in the table by using the Rowid
626. Can U disable database trigger? How?

Yes. With respect to table
ALTER TABLE TABLE
[[ DISABLE all_trigger ]]
627. What is pseudo columns ? Name them?
A pseudocolumn behaves like a table column, but is not actually stored
in the table. You can select from pseudocolumns, but you cannot
insert, update, or delete their values. This section describes these
pseudocolumns:
* CURRVAL
* NEXTVAL
* LEVEL
* ROWID
* ROWNUM
628. How many columns can table have?

The number of columns in a table can range from 1 to 254.
629. Is space acquired in blocks or extents ?

In extents .
630. what is clustered index?

In an indexed cluster, rows are stored together based on their cluster
key values . Can not applied for HASH.
631. what are the datatypes supported By oracle (INTERNAL)?

Varchar2, Number,Char , MLSLABEL.
632. What are attributes of cursor?

%FOUND , %NOTFOUND , %ISOPEN,%ROWCOUNT
Page 94 of 153
633. Can you use select in FROM clause of SQL select ?
Yes.
634. Which trigger are created when master -detail rela?
master delete property
* NON-ISOLATED (default)
a) on check delete master
b) on clear details
c) on populate details
* ISOLATED
a) on clear details
b) on populate details
* CASCADE
a) per-delete
b) on clear details
c) on populate details
635. which system variables can be set by users?

SYSTEM.MESSAGE_LEVEL
SYSTEM.DATE_THRESHOLD
SYSTEM.EFFECTIVE_DATE
SYSTEM.SUPPRESS_WORKING
636. What are object group?

An object group is a container for a group of objects. You define an
object group when you want to package related objects so you can
copy or reference them in another module.
637. What are referenced objects?

Referencing allows you to create objects that inherit their functionality
and appearance from other objects. Referencing an object is similar to
copying an object, except that the resulting reference object maintains
a link to its source object. A reference object automatically inherits any
changes that have been made to the source object when you open or
regenerate the module that contains the reference object.
638. Can you store objects in library?

regenerate the module that contains the reference object.
639. Is forms 4.5 object oriented tool ? why?

yes , partially. 1) PROPERTY CLASS - inheritance property 2)
OVERLOADING : procedures and functions.
640. Can you issue DDL in forms?
Page 95 of 153
yes, but you have to use FORMS_DDL.
regenerate the module that contains the reference object. Any string
expression up to 32K:
- a literal
- an expression or a variable representing the text of a block of
dynamically created PL/SQL code
- a DML statement or
- a DDL statement
Restrictions:
The statement you pass to FORMS_DDL may not contain bind variable
references in the string, but the values of bind variables can be
concatenated into the string before passing the result to FORMS_DDL.
641. What is SECURE property?

- Hides characters that the operator types into the text item. This
setting is typically used for password protection.
642. What are the types of triggers and how the sequence of
firing in text item
Triggers can be classified as Key Triggers, Mouse Triggers
,Navigational Triggers.
Key Triggers :: Key Triggers are fired as a result of Key action.e.g ::
Key-next-field, Key-up,Key-Down
Mouse Triggers :: Mouse Triggers are fired as a result of the mouse
navigation.e.g. When-mouse-button-presed,when-mouse-
doubleclicked,etc
Navigational Triggers :: These Triggers are fired as a result of
Navigation. E.g : Post-Text-item,Pre-text-item.
We also have event triggers like when ?new-form-instance and when-
new-block-instance.
We cannot call restricted procedures like go_to(?my_block.first_item?)
in the Navigational triggers
But can use them in the Key-next-item.
The Difference between Key-next and Post-Text is an very important
question. The key-next is fired as a result of the key action while the
post text is fired as a result of the mouse movement. Key next will not
fire unless there is a key event. The sequence of firing in a text item
are as follows ::
a) pre - text
b) when new item
c) key-next
d) when validate
e) post text
Page 96 of 153
643. Can you store pictures in database? How?
Yes , in long Raw datatype.
644. What are property classes ? Can property classes have

trigger?
Property class inheritance is a powerful feature that allows you to
quickly define objects that conform to your own interface and
functionality standards. Property classes also allow you to make global
changes to applications quickly. By simply changing the definition of a
property class, you can change the definition of all objects that inherit
properties from that class.
Yes . All type of triggers .
645. If you have property class attached to an item and you
have same trigger written for the item . Which will fire first?
Item level trigger fires , If item level trigger fires, property level trigger
won't fire. Triggers at the lowest level are always given the first
preference. The item level trigger fires first and then the block and
then the Form level trigger.
646. What are record groups ? * Can record groups created at

run-time?
A record group is an internal Oracle Forms data structure that has a
column/row framework similar to a database table. However, unlike
database tables, record groups are separate objects that belong to the
form module in which they are defined. A record group can have an
unlimited number of columns of type CHAR, LONG, NUMBER, or DATE
provided that the total number of columns does not exceed 64K.
Record group column names cannot exceed 30 characters.
Programmatically, record groups can be used whenever the
functionality offered by a two-dimensional array of multiple data types
is desirable.
TYPES OF RECORD GROUP:
Query Record Group A query record group is a record group that has
an associated SELECT statement. The columns in a query record group
derive their default names, data types, and lengths from the database
columns referenced in the SELECT statement. The records in a query
record group are the rows retrieved by the query associated with that
record group.
Non-query Record Group A non-query record group is a group that
does not have an associated query, but whose structure and values
can be modified programmatically at runtime.
Static Record Group A static record group is not associated with a
query; rather, you define its structure and row values at design time,
and they remain fixed at runtime.
647. What are ALERT?
Page 97 of 153
An ALERT is a modal window that displays a message notifiying
operator of some application condition.
648. Can a button have icon and lable at the same time ?
-NO
649. What is mouse navigate property of button?

When Mouse Navigate is True (the default), Oracle Forms performs
standard navigation to move the focus to the item when the operator
activates the item with the mouse.
When Mouse Navigate is set to False, Oracle Forms does not perform
navigation (and the resulting validation) to move to the item when an
operator activates the item with the mouse.
650. What is FORMS_MDI_WINDOW?

forms run inside the MDI application window. This property is useful for
calling a form from another one.
651. What are timers ? when when-timer-expired does not fire?
The When-Timer-Expired trigger can not fire during trigger, navigation,
or transaction processing.
652. Can object group have a block?

Yes , object group can have block as well as program units.
653. How many types of canvases are there.

There are 2 types of canvases called as Content and Stack Canvas.
Content canvas is the default and the one that is used mostly for
giving the base effect. Its like a plate on which we add items and
stacked canvas is used for giving 3 dimensional effect.
654. What are user-exits?

It invokes 3GL programs.
655. Can you pass values to-and-fro from foreign function ?

how ?
Yes . You obtain a return value from a foreign function by assigning the
return value to an Oracle Forms variable or item. Make sure that the
Oracle Forms variable or item is the same data type as the return
value from the foreign function.
After assigning an Oracle Forms variable or item value to a PL/SQL
variable, pass the PL/SQL variable as a parameter value in the PL/SQL
interface of the foreign function. The PL/SQL variable that is passed as
a parameter must be a valid PL/SQL data type; it must also be the
appropriate parameter type as defined in the PL/SQL interface.
656. What is IAPXTB structure ?

The entries of Pro * C and user exits and the form which simulate the
proc or user_exit are stored in IAPXTB table in d/b.
Page 98 of 153
657. Can you call WIN-SDK thruo' user exits?
YES.
658. Does user exits supports DLL on MSWINDOWS ?
YES .
659. What is path setting for DLL?

Make sure you include the name of the DLL in the FORMS45_USEREXIT
variable of the ORACLE.INI file, or rename the DLL to F45XTB.DLL. If
you rename the DLL to F45XTB.DLL, replace the existing F45XTB.DLL
in the ORAWINBIN directory with the new F45XTB.DLL.
660. How is mapping of name of DLL and function done?

The dll can be created using the Visual C++ / Visual Basic Tools and
then the dll is put in the path that is defined the registery.
661. what is precompiler?

It is similar to C precompiler directives.
662. Can you connect to non - oracle datasource ? How?

Yes .
663. what are key-mode and locking mode properties? level ?

Key Mode : Specifies how oracle forms uniquely identifies rows in the
database.This is property includes for application that will run against
NON-ORACLE datasources .
Key setting unique (default.)
dateable
n-updateable.
Locking mode :
Specifies when Oracle Forms should attempt to obtain database locks
on rows that correspond to queried records in the form. a) immediate
b) delayed
664. What are savepoint mode and cursor mode properties ?

level?
Specifies whether Oracle Forms should issue savepoints during a
session. This property is included primarily for applications that will run
against non-ORACLE data sources. For applications that will run against
ORACLE, use the default setting.
Cursor mode - define cursur state across transaction Open/close.
665. Can you replace default form processing ? How ?
666. What is transactional trigger property?

Identifies a block as transactional control block. i.e. non - database
block that oracle forms should manage as transactional block.(NON-
ORACLE datasource) default - FALSE.
Page 99 of 153
667. What is OLE automation ?
OLE automation allows an OLE server application to expose a set of
commands and functions that can be invoked from an OLE container
application. OLE automation provides a way for an OLE container
application to use the features of an OLE server application to
manipulate an OLE object from the OLE container environment.
(FORMS_OLE)
668. What does invoke built-in do?

This procedure invokes a method.
Syntax:
PROCEDURE OLE2.INVOKE
(object obj_type,
method VARCHAR2,
list list_type := 0);
Parameters:
object Is an OLE2 Automation Object.
method Is a method (procedure) of the OLE2 object.
list Is the name of an argument list assigned to the
OLE2.CREATE_ARGLIST function.
669. What are OPEN_FORM,CALL_FORM,NEW_FORM? diff?

CALL_FORM : It calls the other form. but parent remains active, when
called form completes the operation , it releases lock and control goes
back to the calling form.
When you call a form, Oracle Forms issues a savepoint for the called
form. If the CLEAR_FORM function causes a rollback when the called
form is current, Oracle Forms rolls back uncommitted changes to this
savepoint.
OPEN_FORM : When you call a form, Oracle Forms issues a savepoint
for the called form. If the CLEAR_FORM function causes a rollback when
the called form is current, Oracle Forms rolls back uncommitted
changes to this savepoint.
NEW_FORM : Exits the current form and enters the indicated form. The
calling form is terminated as the parent form. If the calling form had
been called by a higher form, Oracle Forms keeps the higher call active
and treats it as a call to the new form. Oracle Forms releases memory
(such as database cursors) that the terminated form was using.
Oracle Forms runs the new form with the same Runform options as the
parent form. If the parent form was a called form, Oracle Forms runs
the new form with the same options as the parent form.
670. What is call form stack?

When successive forms are loaded via the CALL_FORM procedure, the
resulting module hierarchy is known as the call form stack.
671. Can u port applictions across the platforms? how?
Page 100 of 153

Yes we can port applications across platforms.Consider the form
developed in a windows system.The form would be generated in unix
system by using f45gen my_form.fmb scott/tiger
672. What is a visual attribute?

Visual attributes are the font, color, and pattern properties that you set
for form and menu objects that appear in your application's interface.
673. Diff. between VAT and Property Class? imp

Named visual attributes define only font, color, and pattern attributes;
property classes can contain these and any other properties.
You can change the appearance of objects at runtime by changing the
named visual attribute programmatically; property class assignment
cannot be changed programmatically. When an object is inheriting
from both a property class and a named visual attribute, the named
visual attribute settings take precedence, and any visual attribute
properties in the class are ignored.
673. Which trigger related to mouse?

When-Mouse-Click
When-Mouse-DoubleClick
When-Mouse-Down
When-Mouse-Enter
When-Mouse-Leave
When-Mouse-Move
When-Mouse-Up
674. What is Current record attribute property?

Specifies the named visual attribute used when an item is part of the
current record. Current Record Attribute is frequently used at the block
level to display the current row in a multi-record If you define an item-
level Current Record Attribute, you can display a pre-determined item
in a special color when it is part of the current record, but you cannot
dynamically highlight the current item, as the input focus changes.
675. Can u change VAT at run time?

Yes. You can programmatically change an object's named visual
attribute setting to change the font, color, and pattern of the object at
runtime.
676. Can u set default font in forms?

Yes. Change windows registry(regedit). Set form45_font to the desired
font.
_break
677. What is Log Switch ?
The point at which ORACLE ends writing to one online redo log file and
begins writing to another is called a log switch.
Page 101 of 153

678. What is On-line Redo Log?
The On-line Redo Log is a set of tow or more on-line redo files that
record all committed changes made to the database. Whenever a
transaction is committed, the corresponding redo entries temporarily
stores in redo log buffers of the SGA are written to an on-line redo log
file by the background process LGWR. The on-line redo log files are
used in cyclical fashion.
679. Which parameter specified in the DEFAULT STORAGE

clause of CREATE TABLESPACE cannot be altered after creating
the tablespace?
All the default storage parameters defined for the tablespace can be
changed using the ALTER TABLESPACE command. When objects are
created their INITIAL and MINEXTENS values cannot be changed.
680. What are the steps involved in Database Startup ?

Start an instance, Mount the Database and Open the Database.
Rolling forward to recover data that has not been recorded in data
files, yet has been recorded in the on-line redo log, including the
contents of rollback segments. Rolling back transactions that have
been explicitly rolled back or have not been committed as indicated by
the rollback segments regenerated in step a. Releasing any resources
(locks) held by transactions in process at the time of the failure.
Resolving any pending distributed transactions undergoing a two-
phase commit at the time of the instance failure.
682. Can Full Backup be performed when the database is

open ?
No.
683. What are the different modes of mounting a Database

with the Parallel Server ?
Exclusive Mode If the first instance that mounts a database does so in
exclusive mode, only that Instance can mount the database.
Parallel Mode If the first instance that mounts a database is started in
parallel mode, other instances that are started in parallel mode can
also mount the database.
684. What are the advantages of operating a database in

ARCHIVELOG mode over operating it in NO ARCHIVELOG
mode ?
Complete database recovery from disk failure is possible only in
ARCHIVELOG mode. Online database backup is possible only in
ARCHIVELOG mode.
685. What are the steps involved in Database Shutdown ?
Page 102 of 153

Close the Database, Dismount the Database and Shutdown the
Instance.
686. What is Archived Redo Log ?

Archived Redo Log consists of Redo Log files that have archived before
being reused.
687. What is Restricted Mode of Instance Startup ?

An instance can be started in (or later altered to be in) restricted mode
so that when the database is open connections are limited only to
those whose user accounts have been granted the RESTRICTED
SESSION system privilege.
677. Can u have OLE objects in forms?
Yes.
678. Can u have VBX and OCX controls in forms ?

Yes.
679. What r the types of windows (Window style)?

Specifies whether the window is a Document window or a Dialog
window.
680. What is OLE Activation style property?

Specifies the event that will activate the OLE containing item.
681. Can u change the mouse pointer ? How?

Yes. Specifies the mouse cursor style. Use this property to dynamically
change the shape of the cursor.
682. How many types of columns are there and what are they
Formula columns :: For doing mathematical calculations and returning
one value Summary Columns :: For doing summary calculations such
as summations etc. Place holder Columns :: These columns are useful
for storing the value in a variable
683. Can u have more than one layout in report

It is possible to have more than one layout in a report by using the
additional layout option in the layout editor.
684. Can u run the report with out a parameter form

Yes it is possible to run the report without parameter form by setting
the PARAM value to Null
685. What is the lock option in reports layout

By using the lock option we cannot move the fields in the layout editor
outside the frame. This is useful for maintaining the fields .
686. What is Flex
Page 103 of 153

Flex is the property of moving the related fields together by setting the
flex property on
687. What are the minimum number of groups required for a

matrix report
The minimum of groups required for a matrix report are 4 e -----
688.. What is a Synonym ?
A synonym is an alias for a table, view, sequence or program unit.
689. What is a Sequence ?

A sequence generates a serial list of unique numbers for numerical
columns of a database's tables.
690. What is a Segment ?

A segment is a set of extents allocated for a certain logical structure.
691. What is schema?

A schema is collection of database objects of a User.
692. Describe Referential Integrity ?

A rule defined on a column (or set of columns) in one table that allows
the insert or update of a row only if the value for the column or set of
columns (the dependent value) matches a value in a column of a
related table (the referenced value). It also specifies the type of data
manipulation allowed on referenced data and the action to be
performed on dependent data as a result of any action on referenced
data.
693. What is Hash Cluster ?

A row is stored in a hash cluster based on the result of applying a hash
function to the row's cluster key value. All rows with the same hash
key value are stores together on disk.
694. What is a Private Synonyms ?

A Private Synonyms can be accessed only by the owner.
695. What is Database Link ?

A database link is a named object that describes a "path" from one
database to another.
696. What is index cluster?
A cluster with an index on the cluster key.
697.What is hash cluster?

A row is stored in a hash cluster based on the result of applying a hash
function to the row's cluster key value. All rows with the same hash
key value are stores together on disk.
698.When can hash cluster used?
Page 104 of 153

Hash clusters are better choice when a table is often queried with
equality queries. For such queries the specified cluster key value is
hashed. The resulting hash key value points directly to the area on disk
that stores the specified rows.
699.When can hash cluster used?

Hash clusters are better choice when a table is often queried with
equality queries. For such queries the specified cluster key value is
hashed. The resulting hash key value points directly to the area on disk
that stores the specified rows.
700. What are the types of database links?

Private database link, public database link & network database link.
701. What is private database link?

Private database link is created on behalf of a specific user. A private
database link can be used only when the owner of the link specifies a
global object name in a SQL statement or in the definition of the
owner's views or procedures.
702. What is public database link?

Public database link is created for the special user group PUBLIC. A
public database link can be used when any user in the associated
database specifies a global object name in a SQL statement or object
definition.
703. What is network database link?

Network database link is created and managed by a network domain
service. A network database link can be used when any user of any
database in the network specifies a global object name in a SQL
statement or object definition.
704. What is data block?

Oracle database's data is stored in data blocks. One data block
corresponds to a specific number of bytes of physical database space
on disk.
705. How to define data block size?

A data block size is specified for each Oracle database when the
database is created. A database users and allocated free database
space in Oracle data blocks. Block size is specified in init.ora file and
cannot be changed latter.
706. What is row chaining?

In circumstances, all of the data for a row in a table may not be able to
fit in the same data block. When this occurs, the data for the row is
stored in a chain of data block (one or more) reserved for that
segment.
Page 105 of 153

707. What is an extent?
An extent is a specific number of contiguous data blocks, obtained in a
single allocation and used to store a specific type of information.
708. What are the different types of segments?
Data segment, index segment, rollback segment and temporary
segment.
709. What is a data segment?

Each non-clustered table has a data segment. All of the table's data is
stored in the extents of its data segment. Each cluster has a data
segment. The data of every table in the cluster is stored in the cluster's
data segment.
709. What is an index segment?

Each index has an index segment that stores all of its data.
710. What is rollback segment?

A database contains one or more rollback segments to temporarily
store "undo" information.
711. What are the uses of rollback segment?

To generate read-consistent database information during database
recovery and to rollback uncommitted transactions by the users.
712. What is a temporary segment?

Temporary segments are created by Oracle when a SQL statement
needs a temporary work area to complete execution. When the
statement finishes execution, the temporary segment extents are
released to the system for future use.
713. What is a datafile?

Every Oracle database has one or more physical data files. A
database's data files contain all the database data. The data of logical
database structures such as tables and indexes is physically stored in
the data files allocated for a database.
714. What are the characteristics of data files?

A data file can be associated with only one database. Once created a
data file can't change size. One or more data files form a logical unit of
database storage called a tablespace.
715. What is a redo log?

The set of redo log files for a database is collectively known as the
database redo log.
716. What is the function of redo log?
Page 106 of 153

The primary function of the redo log is to record all changes made to
data.
717. What is the use of redo log information?

The information in a redo log file is used only to recover the database
from a system or media failure prevents database data from being
written to a database's data files.
718. What does a control file contains?

- Database name
- Names and locations of a database's files and redolog files.
- Time stamp of database creation.
719. What is the use of control file?

When an instance of an Oracle database is started, its control file is
used to identify the database and redo log files that must be opened
for database operation to proceed. It is also used in database recovery.
720. Is it possible to split the print reviewer into more than
one region?
Yes
721. Is it possible to center an object horizontally in a

repeating frame that has a variable horizontal size?
Yes
722. For a field in a repeating frame, can the source come from
the column which does not exist in the data group which forms
the base for the frame?
Yes
723. Can a field be used in a report without it appearing in any

data group?
Yes
724. The join defined by the default data link is an outer join
yes or no?
Yes
725. Can a formula column referred to columns in higher

group?
Yes
726. Can a formula column be obtained through a select

statement?
Yes
727. Is it possible to insert comments into sql statements

return in the data model editor?
Page 107 of 153

Yes
728. Is it possible to disable the parameter from while running

the report?
Yes
729. When a form is invoked with call_form, Does oracle forms

issues a save point?
Yes
730. Explain the difference between a hot backup and a cold
backup and the benefits associated with each.
A hot backup is basically taking a backup of the database while it is
still up and running and it must be in archive log mode. A cold backup
is taking a backup of the database while it is shut down and does not
require being in archive log mode. The benefit of taking a hot backup is
that the database is still available for use while the backup is occurring
and you can recover the database to any point in time. The benefit of
taking a cold backup is that it is typically easier to administer the
backup and recovery process. In addition, since you are taking cold
backups the database does not require being in archive log mode and
thus there will be a slight performance gain as the database is not
cutting archive logs to disk.
731. You have just had to restore from backup and do not have
any control files. How would you go about bringing up this
database?
I would create a text based backup control file, stipulating where on
disk all the data files where and then issue the recover command with
the using backup control file clause.
732. How do you switch from an init.ora file to a spfile?

Issue the create spfile from pfile command.
732. Explain the difference between a data block, an extent

and a segment.
A data block is the smallest unit of logical storage for a database
object. As objects grow they take chunks of additional storage that are
composed of contiguous data blocks. These groupings of contiguous
data blocks are called extents. All the extents that an object takes
when grouped together are considered the segment of the database
object.
733. Give two examples of how you might determine the

structure of the table DEPT.
Use the describe command or use the dbms_metadata.get_ddl
package.
Page 108 of 153

734. Where would you look for errors from the database
engine?
In the alert log.
735. Compare and contrast TRUNCATE and DELETE for a table.

Both the truncate and delete command have the desired outcome of
getting rid of all the rows in a table. The difference between the two is
that the truncate command is a DDL operation and just moves the high
water mark and produces a now rollback. The delete command, on the
other hand, is a DML operation, which will produce a rollback and thus
take longer to complete.
736. Give the reasoning behind using an index.

Faster access to data blocks in a table.
737. Give the two types of tables involved in producing a star

schema and the type of data they hold.
Fact tables and dimension tables. A fact table contains measurements
while dimension tables will contain data that will help describe the fact
tables.
738. What type of index should you use on a fact table?

A Bitmap index.
739. Give two examples of referential integrity constraints.

A primary key and a foreign key.
740. A table is classified as a parent table and you want to

drop and re-create it. How would you do this without affecting
the children tables?
Disable the foreign key constraint to the parent, drop the table, re-
create the table, enable the foreign key constraint.
741. Explain the difference between ARCHIVELOG mode and

NOARCHIVELOG mode and the benefits and disadvantages to
each.
ARCHIVELOG mode is a mode that you can put the database in for
creating a backup of all transactions that have occurred in the
database so that you can recover to any point in time. NOARCHIVELOG
mode is basically the absence of ARCHIVELOG mode and has the
disadvantage of not being able to recover to any point in time.
NOARCHIVELOG mode does have the advantage of not having to write
transactions to an archive log and thus increases the performance of
the database slightly.
742. What command would you use to create a backup control
file?
Alter database backup control file to trace.
Page 109 of 153

743. Give the stages of instance startup to a usable state
where normal users may access it.
STARTUP NOMOUNT - Instance startup
STARTUP MOUNT - The database is mounted
STARTUP OPEN - The database is opened
744. What column differentiates the V$ views to the GV$ views

and how?
The INST_ID column which indicates the instance in a RAC environment
the information came from.
745. How would you go about generating an EXPLAIN plan?

Create a plan table with utlxplan.sql.
Use the explain plan set statement_id = 'tst1' into plan_table for a SQL
statement
Look at the explain plan with utlxplp.sql or utlxpls.sql
746. How would you go about increasing the buffer cache hit
ratio?
Use the buffer cache advisory over a given workload and then query
the v$db_cache_advice table. If a change was necessary then I would
use the alter system set db_cache_size command.
747. Explain an ORA-01555

You get this error when you get a snapshot too old within rollback. It
can usually be solved by increasing the undo retention or increasing
the size of rollbacks. You should also look at the logic involved in the
application getting the error message.
748. Explain the difference between $ORACLE_HOME and

$ORACLE_BASE.
ORACLE_BASE is the root directory for oracle. ORACLE_HOME located
beneath ORACLE_BASE is where the oracle products reside.
749. How would you determine the time zone under which a
database was operating?
select DBTIMEZONE from dual;
750. Explain the use of setting GLOBAL_NAMES equal to TRUE.

Setting GLOBAL_NAMES dictates how you might connect to a database.
This variable is either TRUE or FALSE and if it is set to TRUE it enforces
database links to have the same name as the remote database to
which they are linking.
751. What command would you use to encrypt a PL/SQL

application?
WRAP
Page 110 of 153

752. Explain the difference between a FUNCTION, PROCEDURE
and PACKAGE.
A function and procedure are the same in that they are intended to be
a collection of PL/SQL code that carries a single task. While a
procedure does not have to return any values to the calling
application, a function will return a single value. A package on the
other hand is a collection of functions and procedures that are grouped
together based on their commonality to a business function or
application.
753. Explain the use of table functions.

Table functions are designed to return a set of rows through PL/SQL
logic but are intended to be used as a normal table or view in a SQL
statement. They are also used to pipeline information in an ETL
process.
754. Name three advisory statistics you can collect.
Buffer Cache Advice, Segment Level Statistics, & Timed Statistics
755. Where in the Oracle directory tree structure are audit

traces placed?
In unix $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/audit, in Windows the event viewer
756. Explain materialized views and how they are used.

Materialized views are objects that are reduced sets of information that
have been summarized, grouped, or aggregated from base tables.
They are typically used in data warehouse or decision support systems.
757. When a user process fails, what background process

cleans up after it?
PMON
758. What background process refreshes materialized views?

The Job Queue Processes.
759. How would you determine what sessions are connected

and what resources they are waiting for?
Use of V$SESSION and V$SESSION_WAIT
760. Describe what redo logs are.

Redo logs are logical and physical structures that are designed to hold
all the changes made to a database and are intended to aid in the
recovery of a database.
761. How would you force a log switch?

ALTER SYSTEM SWITCH LOGFILE;
762. Give two methods you could use to determine what DDL
changes have been made.
Page 111 of 153

You could use Logminer or Streams
763. What does coalescing a tablespace do?

Coalescing is only valid for dictionary-managed tablespaces and de-
fragments space by combining neighboring free extents into large
single extents.
764. What is the difference between a TEMPORARY tablespace

and a PERMANENT tablespace?
A temporary tablespace is used for temporary objects such as sort
structures while permanent tablespaces are used to store those
objects meant to be used as the true objects of the database.
765. Name a tablespace automatically created when you create

a database.
The SYSTEM tablespace.
766. When creating a user, what permissions must you grant
to allow them to connect to the database?
Grant the CONNECT to the user.
767. How do you add a data file to a tablespace

ALTER TABLESPACE <tablespace_name> ADD DATAFILE
<datafile_name> SIZE
768. How do you resize a data file?

ALTER DATABASE DATAFILE <datafile_name> RESIZE <new_size>;
769. What view would you use to look at the size of a data file?
DBA_DATA_FILES
770. What view would you use to determine free space in a

tablespace?
DBA_FREE_SPACE
771. How would you determine who has added a row to a

table?
Turn on fine grain auditing for the table.
772. How can you rebuild an index?

ALTER INDEX <index_name> REBUILD;
773. Explain what partitioning is and what its benefit is.

Partitioning is a method of taking large tables and indexes and splitting
them into smaller, more manageable pieces.
774. You have just compiled a PL/SQL package but got errors,
how would you view the errors?
SHOW ERRORS
Page 112 of 153

775. How can you gather statistics on a table?
The ANALYZE command.
776. How can you enable a trace for a session?

Use the DBMS_SESSION.SET_SQL_TRACE or
Use ALTER SESSION SET SQL_TRACE = TRUE;
777. What is the difference between the SQL*Loader and

IMPORT utilities?
These two Oracle utilities are used for loading data into the database.
The difference is that the import utility relies on the data being
produced by another Oracle utility EXPORT while the SQL*Loader utility
allows data to be loaded that has been produced by other utilities from
different data sources just so long as it conforms to ASCII formatted or
delimited files.
778. Name two files used for network connection to a

database.
TNSNAMES.ORA and SQLNET.ORA
779. What is the function of Optimizer ?
The goal of the optimizer is to choose the most efficient way to
execute a SQL statement.
780. What is Execution Plan ?

The combinations of the steps the optimizer chooses to execute a
statement is called an execution plan.
781. Can one resize tablespaces and data files? (for DBA)
One can manually increase or decrease the size of a datafile from
Oracle 7.2 using the command.
ALTER DATABASE DATAFILE 'filename2' RESIZE 100M;
Because you can change the sizes of datafiles, you can add more
space to your database without adding more datafiles. This is
beneficial if you are concerned about reaching the maximum number
of datafiles allowed in your database.
Manually reducing the sizes of datafiles allows you to reclaim unused
space in the database. This is useful for correcting errors in
estimations of space requirements.
Also, datafiles can be allowed to automatically extend if more space is
required. Look at the following command:
CREATE TABLESPACE pcs_data_ts
DATAFILE 'c:\ora_apps\pcs\pcsdata1.dbf' SIZE 3M
AUTOEXTEND ON NEXT 1M MAXSIZE UNLIMITED
DEFAULT STORAGE (INITIAL 10240
NEXT 10240
MINEXTENTS 1
MAXEXTENTS UNLIMITED
Page 113 of 153

PCTINCREASE 0)
ONLINE
PERMANENT;
782. What is SAVE POINT ?

For long transactions that contain many SQL statements, intermediate
markers or savepoints can be declared which can be used to divide a
transaction into smaller parts. This allows the option of later rolling
back all work performed from the current point in the transaction to a
declared savepoint within the transaction.
783. What are the values that can be specified for OPTIMIZER
MODE Parameter ?
COST and RULE.
784. Can one rename a tablespace? (for DBA)

No, this is listed as Enhancement Request 148742. Workaround:
Export all of the objects from the tablespace
Drop the tablespace including contents
Recreate the tablespace
Import the objects
785. What is RULE-based approach to optimization ?

Choosing an executing planbased on the access paths available and
the ranks of these access paths.
786. What are the values that can be specified for

OPTIMIZER_GOAL parameter of the ALTER SESSION Command ?
)
CHOOSE,ALL_ROWS,FIRST_ROWS and RULE.
787. How does one create a standby database? (for DBA)

While your production database is running, take an (image copy)
backup and restore it on duplicate hardware. Note that an export will
not work!!!
On your standby database, issue the following commands:
ALTER DATABASE CREATE STANDBY CONTROLFILE AS 'filename';
ALTER DATABASE MOUNT STANDBY DATABASE;
RECOVER STANDBY DATABASE;
On systems prior to Oracle 8i, write a job to copy archived redo log
files from the primary database to the standby system, and apply the
redo log files to the standby database (pipe it). Remember the
database is recovering and will prompt you for the next log file to
apply.
Oracle 8i onwards provide an "Automated Standby Database" feature,
which will send archived, log files to the remote site via NET8, and
apply then to the standby database.
When one needs to activate the standby database, stop the recovery
Page 114 of 153

process and activate it:
ALTER DATABASE ACTIVATE STANDBY DATABASE;
788.How does one give developers access to trace files

(required as input to tkprof)? (for DBA)
The "alter session set sql_trace=true" command generates trace files
in USER_DUMP_DEST that can be used by developers as input to tkprof.
On Unix the default file mask for these files are "rwx r-- ---".
There is an undocumented INIT.ORA parameter that will allow
everyone to read (rwx r-r--) these trace files:
_trace_files_public = true
Include this in your INIT.ORA file and bounce your database for it to
take effect.
789. What are the responsibilities of a Database
Administrator ?
Installing and upgrading the Oracle Server and application tools.
Allocating system storage and planning future storage requirements
for the database system. Managing primary database structures
(tablespaces) Managing primary objects (table,views,indexes) Enrolling
users and maintaining system security. Ensuring compliance with
Oralce license agreement Controlling and monitoring user access to
the database. Monitoring and optimizing the performance of the
database. Planning for backup and recovery of database information.
Maintain archived data on tape Backing up and restoring the database.
Contacting Oracle Corporation for technical support.
790. What is a trace file and how is it created ?

Each server and background process can write an associated trace file.
When an internal error is detected by a process or user process, it
dumps information about the error to its trace. This can be used for
tuning the database.
791. What are the roles and user accounts created

automatically with the database?
DBA - role Contains all database system privileges.
SYS user account - The DBA role will be assigned to this account. All of
the base tables and views for the database's dictionary are store in this
schema and are manipulated only by ORACLE. SYSTEM user account -
It has all the system privileges for the database and additional tables
and views that display administrative information and internal tables
and views used by oracle tools are created using this username.
792. What are the minimum parameters should exist in the

parameter file (init.ora) ?
DB NAME - Must set to a text string of no more than 8 characters and it
will be stored inside the datafiles, redo log files and control files and
control file while database creation.
DB_DOMAIN - It is string that specifies the network domain where the
Page 115 of 153

database is created. The global database name is identified by setting
these parameters
(DB_NAME & DB_DOMAIN) CONTORL FILES - List of control filenames of
the database. If name is not mentioned then default name will be used.
DB_BLOCK_BUFFERS - To determine the no of buffers in the buffer

cache in SGA.
PROCESSES - To determine number of operating system processes that
can be connected to ORACLE concurrently. The value should be 5
(background process) and additional 1 for each user.
ROLLBACK_SEGMENTS - List of rollback segments an ORACLE instance
acquires at database startup. Also optionally
LICENSE_MAX_SESSIONS,LICENSE_SESSION_WARNING and
LICENSE_MAX_USERS.
793. Why and when should I backup my database? (for DBA
Backup and recovery is one of the most important aspects of a DBAs
job. If you lose your company's data, you could very well lose your job.
Hardware and software can always be replaced, but your data may be
irreplaceable!
Normally one would schedule a hierarchy of daily, weekly and monthly
backups, however consult with your users before deciding on a backup
schedule. Backup frequency normally depends on the following factors:
. Rate of data change/ transaction rate

. Database availability/ Can you shutdown for cold backups?
. Criticality of the data/ Value of the data to the company
. Read-only tablespace needs backing up just once right after you
make it read-only
. If you are running in archivelog mode you can backup parts of a
database over an extended cycle of days
. If archive logging is enabled one needs to backup archived log files
timeously to prevent database freezes
. Etc.
Carefully plan backup retention periods. Ensure enough backup media
(tapes) are available and that old backups are expired in-time to make
media available for new backups. Off-site vaulting is also highly
recommended.
Frequently test your ability to recover and document all possible
scenarios. Remember, it's the little things that will get you. Most failed
recoveries are a result of organizational errors and
miscommunications.
794. What strategies are available for backing-up an Oracle

database? (for DBA
The following methods are valid for backing-up an Oracle database:
Export/Import - Exports are "logical" database backups in that they
extract logical definitions and data from the database to a file.
Cold or Off-line Backups - Shut the database down and backup up ALL
Page 116 of 153

data, log, and control files.
Hot or On-line Backups - If the databases are available and in
ARCHIVELOG mode, set the tablespaces into backup mode and backup
their files. Also remember to backup the control files and archived redo
log files.
RMAN Backups - While the database is off-line or on-line, use the
"rman" utility to backup the database.
It is advisable to use more than one of these methods to backup your
database. For example, if you choose to do on-line database backups,
also cover yourself by doing database exports. Also test ALL backup
and recovery scenarios carefully. It is better to be save than sorry.
Regardless of your strategy, also remember to backup all required
software libraries, parameter files, password files, etc. If your database
is in ARCGIVELOG mode, you also need to backup archived log files.
795. What is the difference between online and offline

backups? (for DBA
A hot backup is a backup performed while the database is online and
available for read/write. Except for Oracle exports, one can only do on-
line backups when running in ARCHIVELOG mode.
A cold backup is a backup performed while the database is off-line and
unavailable to its users.
796. What is the difference between restoring and recovering?

(for DBA
Restoring involves copying backup files from secondary storage
(backup media) to disk. This can be done to replace damaged files or
to copy/move a database to a new location.
Recovery is the process of applying redo logs to the database to roll it
forward. One can roll-forward until a specific point-in-time (before the
disaster occurred), or roll-forward until the last transaction recorded in
the log files. Sql> connect SYS as SYSDBA
Sql> RECOVER DATABASE UNTIL TIME '2001-03-06:16:00:00' USING
BACKUP CONTROLFILE;
797. How does one backup a database using the export utility?
(for DBA
Oracle exports are "logical" database backups (not physical) as they
extract data and logical definitions from the database into a file. Other
backup strategies normally back-up the physical data files.
One of the advantages of exports is that one can selectively re-import
tables, however one cannot roll-forward from an restored export file.
To completely restore a database from an export file one practically
needs to recreate the entire database.
Always do full system level exports (FULL=YES). Full exports include
more information about the database in the export file than user level
exports.
798. What are the built_ins used the display the LOV?
Page 117 of 153

Show_lov
List_values
799. How do you call other Oracle Products from Oracle Forms?
Run_product is a built-in, Used to invoke one of the supported oracle
tools products and specifies the name of the document or module to
be run. If the called product is unavailable at the time of the call,
Oracle Forms returns a message to the operator.
800. What is the main diff. bet. Reports 2.0 & Reports 2.5?
Report 2.5 is object oriented.
801. What are the Built-ins to display the user-named editor?

A user named editor can be displayed programmatically with the built
in procedure SHOW-EDITOR, EDIT_TETITEM independent of any
particular text item.
803. How many number of columns a record group can have?

A record group can have an unlimited number of columns of type
CHAR, LONG, NUMBER, or DATE provided that the total number of
column does not exceed 64K.
804. What is a Query Record Group?

A query record group is a record group that has an associated SELECT
statement. The columns in a query record group derive their default
names, data types, had lengths from the database columns referenced
in the SELECT statement. The records in query record group are the
rows retrieved by the query associated with that record group. What is
a Non Query Record Group?
805. What does the term panel refer to with regard to pages?
A panel is the no. of physical pages needed to print one logical page.
806. What is a master detail relationship?

A master detail relationship is an association between two base table
blocks- a master block and a detail block. The relationship between the
blocks reflects a primary key to foreign key relationship between the
tables on which the blocks are based.
807.What is a library?
A library is a collection of subprograms including user named
procedures, functions and packages.
808. What is an anchoring object & what is its use? What are
the various sub events a mouse double click event involves?
An anchoring object is a print condition object which used to explicitly
or implicitly anchor other objects to itself.
Page 118 of 153

809. Use the add_group_column function to add a column to
record group that was created at a design time?
False
810. What are the various sub events a mouse double click
event involves? What are the various sub events a mouse
Double clicking the mouse consists of the mouse down, mouse up,
mouse click, mouse down & mouse up events.
811. What is the use of break group? What are the various sub
events a mouse double click event involves?
A break group is used to display one record for one group ones. While
multiple related records in other group can be displayed.
812. What tuning indicators can one use? (for DBA

The following high-level tuning indicators can be used to establish if a
database is performing optimally or not:
. Buffer Cache Hit Ratio
Formula: Hit Ratio = (Logical Reads - Physical Reads) / Logical Reads
Action: Increase DB_CACHE_SIZE (DB_BLOCK_BUFFERS prior to 9i) to
increase hit ratio
. Library Cache Hit Ratio
Action: Increase the SHARED_POOL_SIZE to increase hit ratio
813. What tools/utilities does Oracle provide to assist with

performance tuning? (for DBA
Oracle provide the following tools/ utilities to assist with performance
monitoring and tuning:
. TKProf
. UTLBSTAT.SQL and UTLESTAT.SQL - Begin and end stats monitoring
. Statspack
. Oracle Enterprise Manager - Tuning Pack
814. What is STATSPACK and how does one use it? (for DBA
Statspack is a set of performance monitoring and reporting utilities
provided by Oracle from Oracle8i and above. Statspack provides
improved BSTAT/ESTAT functionality, though the old BSTAT/ESTAT
scripts are still available. For more information about STATSPACK, read
the documentation in file $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/spdoc.txt.
Install Statspack:
cd $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin
sqlplus "/ as sysdba" @spdrop.sql -- Install Statspack -
sqlplus "/ as sysdba" @spcreate.sql-- Enter tablespace names when
prompted
Use Statspack:
sqlplus perfstat/perfstat
exec statspack.snap; -- Take a performance snapshots
exec statspack.snap;
Page 119 of 153

o Get a list of snapshots
select SNAP_ID, SNAP_TIME from STATS$SNAPSHOT;
@spreport.sql -- Enter two snapshot id's for difference report
Other Statspack Scripts:
. sppurge.sql - Purge a range of Snapshot Id's between the specified
begin and end Snap Id's
. spauto.sql - Schedule a dbms_job to automate the collection of
STATPACK statistics
. spcreate.sql - Installs the STATSPACK user, tables and package on a
database (Run as SYS).
. spdrop.sql - Deinstall STATSPACK from database (Run as SYS)
. sppurge.sql - Delete a range of Snapshot Id's from the database
. spreport.sql - Report on differences between values recorded in two
snapshots
. sptrunc.sql - Truncates all data in Statspack tables
815. What are the common RMAN errors (with solutions)? (for
DBA
Some of the common RMAN errors are:
RMAN-20242: Specification does not match any archivelog in the
recovery catalog.
Add to RMAN script: sql 'alter system archive log current';
RMAN-06089: archived log xyz not found or out of sync with catalog
Execute from RMAN: change archivelog all validate;
816. How can you execute the user defined triggers in forms
3.0 ?
Execute Trigger (trigger-name)
817. What ERASE package procedure does ?

Erase removes an indicated global variable.
818. What is the difference between NAME_IN and COPY ?

Copy is package procedure and writes values into a field.
Name in is a package function and returns the contents of the variable
to which you apply.
819. What package procedure is used for calling another

form ?
Call (E.g. Call(formname)
820. When the form is running in DEBUG mode, If you want to

examine the values of global variables and other form
variables, What package procedure command you would use in
your trigger text ?
Break.
SYSTEM VARIABLES
Page 120 of 153

821. The value recorded in system.last_record variable is of
type
a. Number
b. Boolean
c. Character. ?
b. Boolean.
822. What is mean by Program Global Area (PGA) ?
It is area in memory that is used by a Single Oracle User Process.
823. What is hit ratio ?

It is a measure of well the data cache buffer is handling requests for
data. Hit Ratio = (Logical Reads - Physical Reads - Hits Misses)/ Logical
Reads.
824. How do u implement the If statement in the Select

Statement
We can implement the if statement in the select statement by using
the Decode statement. e.g select DECODE
(EMP_CAT,'1','First','2','Second'Null); Here the Null is the else
statement where null is done .
825. How many types of Exceptions are there

There are 2 types of exceptions. They are
a) System Exceptions
e.g. When no_data_found, When too_many_rows
b) User Defined Exceptions
e.g. My_exception exception
When My_exception then
826. What are the inline and the precompiler directives

The inline and precompiler directives detect the values directly
827. How do you use the same lov for 2 columns

We can use the same lov for 2 columns by passing the return values in
global values and using the global values in the code
828. How many minimum groups are required for a matrix

report
The minimum number of groups in matrix report are 4
829. What is the difference between static and dynamic lov

The static lov contains the predetermined values while the dynamic lov
contains values that come at run time
830. How does one manage Oracle database users? (for DBA
Oracle user accounts can be locked, unlocked, forced to choose new
passwords, etc. For example, all accounts except SYS and SYSTEM will
be locked after creating an Oracle9iDB database using the DB
Page 121 of 153

Configuration Assistant (dbca). DBA's must unlock these accounts to
make them available to users.
Look at these examples:
ALTER USER scott ACCOUNT LOCK -- lock a user account
ALTER USER scott ACCOUNT UNLOCK; -- unlocks a locked users
account
ALTER USER scott PASSWORD EXPIRE; -- Force user to choose a new
password
831. How does one tune Oracle Wait events? (for DBA
Some wait events from V$SESSION_WAIT and V$SYSTEM_EVENT views:
Event Name: Tuning Recommendation:
db file
Tune SQL to do less I/O. Make sure all objects are
sequential
analyzed. Redistribute I/O across disks.
read
buffer busy Increase DB_CACHE_SIZE (DB_BLOCK_BUFFERS prior to
waits 9i)/ Analyze contention from SYS.V$BH
log buffer Increase LOG_BUFFER parameter or move log files to
spaces faster disks
832. What is the difference between DBFile Sequential and

Scattered Reads?(for DBA
Both "db file sequential read" and "db file scattered read" events
signify time waited for I/O read requests to complete. Time is reported
in 100's of a second for Oracle 8i releases and below, and 1000's of a
second for Oracle 9i and above. Most people confuse these events with
each other as they think of how data is read from disk. Instead they
should think of how data is read into the SGA buffer cache.
db file sequential read:
A sequential read operation reads data into contiguous memory
(usually a single-block read with p3=1, but can be multiple blocks).
Single block I/Os are usually the result of using indexes. This event is
also used for rebuilding the controlfile and reading datafile headers
(P2=1). In general, this event is indicative of disk contention on index
reads.
db file scattered read:
Similar to db file sequential reads, except that the session is reading
multiple data blocks and scatters them into different discontinuous
buffers in the SGA. This statistic is NORMALLY indicating disk
contention on full table scans. Rarely, data from full table scans could
be fitted into a contiguous buffer area, these waits would then show up
as sequential reads instead of scattered reads.
The following query shows average wait time for sequential versus
scattered reads:
prompt "AVERAGE WAIT TIME FOR READ REQUESTS"
select a.average_wait "SEQ READ", b.average_wait "SCAT READ"
from sys.v_$system_event a, sys.v_$system_event b
Page 122 of 153

where a.event = 'db file sequential read'
and b.event = 'db file scattered read';
833. What is the use of PARFILE option in EXP command ?

Name of the parameter file to be passed for export.
834. What is the use of TABLES option in EXP command ?

List of tables should be exported.ze)
835. What is the OPTIMAL parameter?

It is used to set the optimal length of a rollback segment.
836. How does one use ORADEBUG from Server Manager/

SQL*Plus? (for DBA
Execute the "ORADEBUG HELP" command from svrmgrl or sqlplus to
obtain a list of valid ORADEBUG commands. Look at these examples:
SQLPLUS> REM Trace SQL statements with bind variables
SQLPLUS> oradebug setospid 10121
Oracle pid: 91, Unix process pid: 10121, image: oracleorcl
SQLPLUS> oradebug EVENT 10046 trace name context forever, level
12
Statement processed.
SQLPLUS> ! vi /app/oracle/admin/orcl/bdump/ora_10121.trc
SQLPLUS> REM Trace Process Statistics
SQLPLUS> oradebug setorapid 2
Unix process pid: 1436, image: ora_pmon_orcl
SQLPLUS> oradebug procstat
Statement processed.
SQLPLUS>> oradebug TRACEFILE_NAME
/app/oracle/admin/orcl/bdump/pmon_1436.trc
SQLPLUS> REM List semaphores and shared memory segments in use
SQLPLUS> oradebug ipc
SQLPLUS> REM Dump Error Stack
SQLPLUS> oradebug setospid <pid>
SQLPLUS> oradebug event immediate trace name errorstack level 3
SQLPLUS> REM Dump Parallel Server DLM locks
SQLPLUS> oradebug lkdebug -a convlock
SQLPLUS> oradebug lkdebug -a convres
SQLPLUS> oradebug lkdebug -r <resource handle> (i.e 0x8066d338
from convres dump)
837. Are there any undocumented commands in Oracle? (for

DBA
Sure there are, but it is hard to find them. Look at these examples:
From Server Manager (Oracle7.3 and above): ORADEBUG HELP
It looks like one can change memory locations with the ORADEBUG
POKE command. Anyone brave enough to test this one for us?
Previously this functionality was available with ORADBX (ls -l
Page 123 of 153

$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/lib/oradbx.o; make -f oracle.mk oradbx)
SQL*Plus: ALTER SESSION SET CURRENT_SCHEMA = SYS;
838. If the maximum record retrieved property of the query is
set to 10 then a summary value will be calculated?
Only for 10 records.
839. What are the different objects that you cannot copy or
reference in object groups?
Objects of different modules
Another object groups
Individual block dependent items
Program units.
840. What is an OLE?

Object Linking & Embedding provides you with the capability to
integrate objects from many Ms-Windows applications into a single
compound document creating integrated applications enables you to
use the features form .
841. Can a repeating frame be created without a data group as

a base?
No
842. Is it possible to set a filter condition in a cross product

group in matrix reports?
No
843. What is Overloading of procedures ?

The Same procedure name is repeated with parameters of different
datatypes and parameters in different positions, varying number of
parameters is called overloading of procedures. e.g. DBMS_OUTPUT
put_line
844. What are the return values of functions SQLCODE and

SQLERRM ? What is Pragma EXECPTION_INIT ? Explain the
usage ?
SQLCODE returns the latest code of the error that has occurred.
SQLERRM returns the relevant error message of the SQLCODE.
845. What are the datatypes a available in PL/SQL ?

Some scalar data types such as NUMBER, VARCHAR2, DATE, CHAR,
LONG, BOOLEAN. Some composite data types such as RECORD &
TABLE.
846. What are the two parts of a procedure ?

Procedure Specification and Procedure Body.
847. What is the basic structure of PL/SQL ?
Page 124 of 153

PL/SQL uses block structure as its basic structure. Anonymous blocks
or nested blocks can be used in PL/SQL.
849. WHAT IS RMAN ? (for DBA
Recovery Manager is a tool that: manages the process of creating
backups and also manages the process of restoring and recovering
from them.
850. WHY USE RMAN ? (for DBA

• No extra costs …Its available free
• ?RMAN introduced in Oracle 8 it has become simpler with newer
versions and easier than user managed backups
• ?Proper security
• ?You are 100% sure your database has been backed up.
• ?Its contains detail of the backups taken etc in its central
repository
• Facility for testing validity of backups also commands like
crosscheck to check the status of backup.
• Faster backups and restores compared to backups without RMAN
• RMAN is the only backup tool which supports incremental
backups.
• Oracle 10g has got further optimized incremental backup which
has resulted in improvement of performance during backup and
recovery time
• Parallel operations are supported
• Better querying facility for knowing different details of backup
• No extra redo generated when backup is taken..compared to
online
• backup without RMAN which results in saving of space in hard
disk
• RMAN an intelligent tool
• Maintains repository of backup metadata
• Remembers backup set location
• Knows what need to backed up
• Knows what is required for recovery
• Knows what backups are redundant
UNDERSTANDING THE RMAN ARCHITECTURE

An oracle RMAN comprises of
RMAN EXECUTABLE This could be present and fired even through
client side
TARGET DATABASE This is the database which needs to be backed
up .
RECOVERY CATALOG Recovery catalog is optional otherwise backup
details are stored in target database controlfile .
It is a repository of information queried and updated by Recovery
Manager
It is a schema or user stored in Oracle database. One schema can
support many databases
Page 125 of 153

It contains information about physical schema of target database
datafile and archive log ,backup sets and pieces Recovery catalog is a
must in following scenarios
. In order to store scripts
. For tablespace point in time recovery
Media Management Software

Media Management software is a must if you are using RMAN for
storing backup in tape drive directly.
Backups in RMAN
Oracle backups in RMAN are of the following type
RMAN complete backup OR RMAN incremental backup
These backups are of RMAN proprietary nature
IMAGE COPY
The advantage of uing Image copy is its not in RMAN proprietary
format..
Backup Format
RMAN backup is not in oracle format but in RMAN format. Oracle
backup comprises of backup sets and it consists of backup pieces.
Backup sets are logical entity In oracle 9i it gets stored in a default
location There are two type of backup sets Datafile backup sets,
Archivelog backup sets One more important point of data file backup
sets is it do not include empty blocks. A backup set would contain
many backup pieces.
A single backup piece consists of physical files which are in RMAN
proprietary format.
Example of taking backup using RMAN

Taking RMAN Backup
In non archive mode in dos prompt type
RMAN
You get the RMAN prompt
RMAN > Connect Target
Connect to target database : Magic
using target database controlfile instead of recovery catalog
Lets take a simple backup of database in non archive mode

shutdown immediate ; - - Shutdowns the database
startup mount
backup database ;- its start backing the database
alter database open;
We can fire the same command in archive log mode
And whole of datafiles will be backed
Backup database plus archivelog;
Page 126 of 153

Restoring database
Restoring database has been made very simple in 9i .
It is just
Restore database..
RMAN has become intelligent to identify which datafiles has to be
restored
and the location of backuped up file.
Oracle Enhancement for RMAN in 10 G
Flash Recovery Area

Right now the price of hard disk is falling. Many dba are taking oracle
database backup inside the hard disk itself since it results in lesser
mean time between recoverability.
The new parameter introduced is
DB_RECOVERY_FILE_DEST = /oracle/flash_recovery_area
By configuring the RMAN RETENTION POLICY the flash recovery area
will automatically delete obsolete backups and archive logs that are no
longer required based on that configuration Oracle has introduced new
features in incremental backup
Change Tracking File

Oracle 10g has the facility to deliver faster incrementals with the
implementation of changed tracking file feature.This will results in
faster backups lesser space consumption and also reduces the time
needed for daily backups
Incrementally Updated Backups

Oracle database 10g Incrementally Updates Backup features merges
the image copy of a datafile with RMAN incremental backup. The
resulting image copy is now updated with block changes captured by
incremental backups.The merging of the image copy and incremental
backup is initiated with RMAN recover command. This results in faster
recovery.
Binary compression technique reduces backup space usage by 50-

75%.
With the new DURATION option for the RMAN BACKUP command, DBAs
can weigh backup performance against system service level
requirements. By specifying a duration, RMAN will automatically
calculate the appropriate backup rate; in addition, DBAs can optionally
specify whether backups should minimize time or system load.
New Features in Oem to identify RMAN related backup like backup

pieces, backup sets and image copy
Oracle 9i New features Persistent RMAN Configuration
Page 127 of 153

A new configure command has been introduced in Oracle 9i , that lets
you configure various features including automatic channels,
parallelism ,backup options, etc.
These automatic allocations and options can be overridden by
commands in a RMAN command file.
Controlfile Auto backups

Through this new feature RMAN will automatically perform a controlfile
auto backup. after every backup or copy command.
Block Media Recovery

If we can restore a few blocks rather than an entire file we only need
few blocks.
We even dont need to bring the data file offline.
Syntax for it as follows
Block Recover datafile 8 block 22;
Configure Backup Optimization

Prior to 9i whenever we backed up database using RMAN our backup
also used take backup of read only table spaces which had already
been backed up and also the same with archive log too.
Now with 9i backup optimization parameter we can prevent repeat
backup of read only tablespace and archive log. The command for this
is as follows Configure backup optimization on
Archive Log failover

If RMAN cannot read a block in an archived log from a destination.
RMAN automatically attempts to read from an alternate location this is
called as archive log failover
There are additional commands like

backup database not backed up since time '31-jan-2002 14:00:00'
Do not backup previously backed up files
(say a previous backup failed and you want to restart from where it left
off).
Similar syntax is supported for restores
backup device sbt backup set all Copy a disk backup to tape
(backing up a backup
Additionally it supports
. Backup of server parameter file
. Parallel operation supported
. Extensive reporting available
. Scripting
. Duplex backup sets
. Corrupt block detection
. Backup archive logs
Pitfalls of using RMAN
Page 128 of 153

Previous to version Oracle 9i backups were not that easy which means
you had to allocate a channel compulsorily to take backup You had to
give a run etc . The syntax was a bit complex …RMAN has now become
very simple and easy to use..
If you changed the location of backup set it is compulsory for you to
register it using RMAN or while you are trying to restore backup It
resulted in hanging situations
There is no method to know whether during recovery database restore
is going to fail because of missing archive log file.
Compulsory Media Management only if using tape backup
Incremental backups though used to consume less space used to be
slower since it used to read the entire database to find the changed
blocks and also They have difficult time streaming the tape device. .
Considerable improvement has been made in 10g to optimize the
algorithm to handle changed block.
Observation
Introduced in Oracle 8 it has become more powerful and simpler with
newer version of Oracle 9 and 10 g.
So if you really don't want to miss something critical please start using
RMAN.
851. Explain UNION,MINUS,UNION ALL, INTERSECT ?
INTERSECT returns all distinct rows selected by both queries.MINUS -
returns all distinct rows selected by the first query but not by the
second.UNION - returns all distinct rows selected by either queryUNION
ALL - returns all rows selected by either query, including all duplicates.
852. Should the OEM Console be displayed at all times (when

there are scheduled jobs)? (for DBA
When a job is submitted the agent will confirm the status of the job.
When the status shows up as scheduled, you can close down the OEM
console. The processing of the job is managed by the OIA (Oracle
Intelligent Agent). The OIA maintains a .jou file in the agent's
subdirectory. When the console is launched communication with the
Agent is established and the contents of the .jou file (binary) are
reported to the console job subsystem. Note that OEM will not be able
to send e-mail and paging notifications when the Console is not
started.
853. Difference between SUBSTR and INSTR ?

INSTR (String1,String2(n,(m)),INSTR returns the position of the mth
occurrence of the string 2 instring1. The search begins from nth
position of string1.SUBSTR (String1 n,m)SUBSTR returns a character
string of size m in string1, starting from nth position of string1.
854. What kind of jobs can one schedule with OEM? (for DBA
Page 129 of 153

OEM comes with pre-defined jobs like Export, Import, run OS
commands, run sql scripts, SQL*Plus commands etc. It also gives you
the flexibility of scheduling custom jobs written with the TCL language.
855. What are the pre requisites ?

I. to modify data type of a column ? ii. to add a column with NOT NULL
constraint ? To Modify the datatype of a column the column must be
empty. to add a column with NOT NULL constrain, the table must be
empty.
856. How does one backout events and jobs during

maintenance slots? (for DBA
Managemnet and data collection activity can be suspended by
imposing a blackout. Look at these examples:
agentctl start blackout # Blackout the entrire agent
agentctl stop blackout # Resume normal monitoring and management
agentctl start blackout ORCL # Blackout database ORCL
agentctl stop blackout ORCL # Resume normal monitoring and
management
agentctl start blackout -s jobs -d 00:20 # Blackout jobs for 20 minutes
857. What are the types of SQL Statement ?

Data Definition Language :
CREATE,ALTER,DROP,TRUNCATE,REVOKE,NO AUDIT & COMMIT.
Data Manipulation Language:

INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,LOCK
TABLE,EXPLAIN PLAN & SELECT.Transactional Control:

COMMIT & ROLLBACKSession Control: ALTERSESSION & SET
ROLESystem Control :
ALTER SYSTEM.
858. What is the Oracle Intelligent Agent? (for DBA

The Oracle Intelligent Agent (OIA) is an autonomous process that
needs to run on a remote node in the network to make the node OEM
manageable. The Oracle Intelligent Agent is responsible for:
. Discovering targets that can be managed (Database Servers, Net8
Listeners, etc.);
. Monitoring of events registered in Enterprise Manager; and
. Executing tasks associated with jobs submitted to Enterprise
Manager.
859. How does one start the Oracle Intelligent Agent? (for DBA
One needs to start an OIA (Oracle Intelligent Agent) process on all
machines that will to be managed via OEM.
For OEM 9i and above:
Page 130 of 153

agentctl start agent
agentctl stop agent
For OEM 2.1 and below:

lsnrctl dbsnmp_start
lsnrctl dbsnmp_status
On Windows NT, start the "OracleAgent" Service.

If the agent doesn't want to start, ensure your environment variables
are set correctly and delete the following files before trying again:
1) In $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin: snmp_ro.ora and snmp_rw.ora.
2) Also delete ALL files in $ORACLE_HOME/network/agent/.
Can one write scripts to send alert messages to the console?
Start the OEM console and create a new event. Select option "Enable
Unsolicited Event". Select test "Unsolicited Event". When entering the
parameters, enter values similar to these:
Event Name: /oracle/script/myalert
Object: *
Severity: *
Message: *
One can now write the script and invoke the oemevent command to
send alerts to the console. Look at this example: oemevent
/oracle/script/myalert DESTINATION alert "My custom error message"
where DESTINATION is the same value as entered in the "Monitored
Destinations" field when you've registered the event in the OEM
Console.
860. Where can one get more information about TCL? (for DBA
One can write custom event checking routines for OEM using the TCL
(Tool Command Language) language. Check the following sites for
more information about TCL:
. The Tcl Developer Xchange - download and learn about TCL
. OraTCL at Sourceforge - Download the OraTCL package
. Tom Poindexter's Tcl Page - Oratcl was originally written by Tom
Poindexter
861. Are there any troubleshooting tips for OEM? (for DBA
. Create the OEM repository with a user (which will manage the OEM)
and store it in a tablespace that does not share any data with other
database users. It is a bad practice to create the repository with SYS
and System.
. If you are unable to launch the console or there is a communication
problem with the intelligent agent (daemon). Ensure OCX files are
registered. Type the following in the DOS prompt (the current directory
should be $ORACLE_HOME\BIN:
C:\Orawin95\Bin> RegSvr32 mmdx32.OCX
Page 131 of 153

C:\Orawin95\Bin> RegSvr32 vojt.OCX
. If you have a problem starting the Oracle Agent
Solution A: Backup the *.Q files and Delete all the *.Q Files
($Oracle_home/network/agent folder)
Backup and delete SNMP_RO.ora, SNMP_RW.ora, dbsnmp.ver and
services.ora files ($Oracle_Home/network/admin folder) Start the
Oracle Agent service.
Solution B: Your version of Intelligent Agent could be buggy. Check
with Oracle for any available patches. For example, the Intelligent
Agent that comes with Oracle 8.0.4 is buggy.
Sometimes you get a Failed status for the job that was executed
successfully.
Check the log to see the results of the execution rather than relying on
this status.
862. What is import/export and why does one need it? (for DBA
The Oracle export (EXP) and import (IMP) utilities are used to perform
logical database backup and recovery. They are also used to move
Oracle data from one machine, database or schema to another.
The imp/exp utilities use an Oracle proprietary binary file format and
can thus only be used between Oracle databases. One cannot export
data and expect to import it into a non-Oracle database. For more
information on how to load and unload data from files, read the
SQL*Loader FAQ.
The export/import utilities are also commonly used to perform the
following tasks:
. Backup and recovery (small databases only)
. Reorganization of data/ Eliminate database fragmentation
. Detect database corruption. Ensure that all the data can be read.
. Transporting tablespaces between databases
. Etc.
863. what is a display item?

Display items are similar to text items but store only fetched or
assigned values. Operators cannot navigate to a display item or edit
the value it contains.
867. How does one use the import/export utilities? (for DBA
Look for the "imp" and "exp" executables in your $ORACLE_HOME/bin
directory. One can run them interactively, using command line
parameters, or using parameter files. Look at the imp/exp parameters
before starting. These parameters can be listed by executing the
following commands: "exp help=yes" or "imp help=yes".
The following examples demonstrate how the imp/exp utilities can be
used:
exp scott/tiger file=emp.dmp log=emp.log tables=emp rows=yes
indexes=no
exp scott/tiger file=emp.dmp tables=(emp,dept)
imp scott/tiger file=emp.dmp full=yes
Page 132 of 153

imp scott/tiger file=emp.dmp fromuser=scott touser=scott
tables=dept
exp userid=scott/tiger@orcl parfile=export.txt
... where export.txt contains:
BUFFER=100000
FILE=account.dmp
FULL=n
OWNER=scott
GRANTS=y
COMPRESS=y
NOTE: If you do not like command line utilities, you can import and
export data with the "Schema Manager" GUI that ships with Oracle
Enterprise Manager (OEM).
868. What are the types of visual attribute settings?

Custom Visual attributes Default visual attributes Named Visual
attributes. Window
869. Can one export a subset of a table? (for DBA

From Oracle8i one can use the QUERY= export parameter to
selectively unload a subset of the data from a table. Look at this
example:
exp scott/tiger tables=emp query=\"where deptno=10\"
870. What are the two ways to incorporate images into a

oracle forms application?
Boilerplate Images
Image_items
871. Can one monitor how fast a table is imported? (for DBA
If you need to monitor how fast rows are imported from a running
import job, try one of the following methods:
Method 1:
select substr(sql_text,instr(sql_text,'INTO "'),30) table_name,
rows_processed,
round((sysdate-to_date(first_load_time,'yyyy-mm-dd
hh24:mi:ss'))*24*60,1) minutes,
trunc(rows_processed/((sysdate-to_date(first_load_time,'yyyy-mm-dd
hh24:mi:ss'))*24*60)) rows_per_min
from sys.v_$sqlarea
where sql_text like 'INSERT %INTO "%'
and command_type = 2
and open_versions > 0;
For this to work one needs to be on Oracle 7.3 or higher (7.2 might also
be OK). If the import has more than one table, this statement will only
show information about the current table being imported.
Contributed by Osvaldo Ancarola, Bs. As. Argentina.
Method 2:
Page 133 of 153

Use the FEEDBACK=n import parameter. This command will tell IMP to
display a dot for every N rows imported.
872. Can one import tables to a different tablespace? (for DBA

Oracle offers no parameter to specify a different tablespace to import
data into. Objects will be re-created in the tablespace they were
originally exported from. One can alter this behaviour by following one
of these procedures: Pre-create the table(s) in the correct tablespace:
. Import the dump file using the INDEXFILE= option
. Edit the indexfile. Remove remarks and specify the correct
tablespaces.
. Run this indexfile against your database, this will create the required
tables in the appropriate tablespaces
. Import the table(s) with the IGNORE=Y option.
Change the default tablespace for the user:
. Revoke the "UNLIMITED TABLESPACE" privilege from the user

. Revoke the user's quota from the tablespace from where the object
was exported. This forces the import utility to create tables in the
user's default tablespace.
. Make the tablespace to which you want to import the default
tablespace for the user
. Import the table
873. What do you mean by a block in forms4.0?

Block is a single mechanism for grouping related items into a
functional unit for storing, displaying and manipulating records.
874. How is possible to restrict the user to a list of values
while entering values for parameters?
By setting the Restrict To List property to true in the parameter
property sheet.
875. What is SQL*Loader and what is it used for? (for DBA

SQL*Loader is a bulk loader utility used for moving data from external
files into the Oracle database. Its syntax is similar to that of the DB2
Load utility, but comes with more options. SQL*Loader supports
various load formats, selective loading, and multi-table loads.
876. How does one use the SQL*Loader utility? (for DBA
One can load data into an Oracle database by using the sqlldr (sqlload
on some platforms) utility. Invoke the utility without arguments to get
a list of available parameters. Look at the following example:
sqlldr scott/tiger control=loader.ctl
This sample control file (loader.ctl) will load an external data file
containing delimited data:
load data
infile 'c:\data\mydata.csv'
into table emp
Page 134 of 153

fields terminated by "," optionally enclosed by '"'
( empno, empname, sal, deptno )
The mydata.csv file may look like this:
10001,"Scott Tiger", 1000, 40
10002,"Frank Naude", 500, 20
Another Sample control file with in-line data formatted as fix length
records. The trick is to specify "*" as the name of the data file, and use
BEGINDATA to start the data section in the control file.
load data
infile *
replace
into table departments
( dept position (02:05) char(4),
deptname position (08:27) char(20)
)
begindata
COSC COMPUTER SCIENCE
ENGL ENGLISH LITERATURE
MATH MATHEMATICS
POLY POLITICAL SCIENCE
877. How can a cross product be created?

By selecting the cross products tool and drawing a new group
surrounding the base group of the cross products.
878. Is there a SQL*Unloader to download data to a flat file?

(for DBA
Oracle does not supply any data unload utilities. However, you can use
SQL*Plus to select and format your data and then spool it to a file:
set echo off newpage 0 space 0 pagesize 0 feed off head off trimspool
on
spool oradata.txt
select col1 || ',' || col2 || ',' || col3
from tab1
where col2 = 'XYZ';
spool off
Alternatively use the UTL_FILE PL/SQL package:
rem Remember to update initSID.ora, utl_file_dir='c:\oradata'
parameter
declare
fp utl_file.file_type;
begin
fp := utl_file.fopen('c:\oradata','tab1.txt','w');
utl_file.putf(fp, '%s, %s\n', 'TextField', 55);
utl_file.fclose(fp);
end;
/
You might also want to investigate third party tools like SQLWays from
Page 135 of 153

Ispirer Systems, TOAD from Quest, or ManageIT Fast Unloader from CA
to help you unload data from Oracle.
879. Can one load variable and fix length data records? (for
DBA
Yes, look at the following control file examples. In the first we will load
delimited data (variable length):
LOAD DATA
INFILE *
INTO TABLE load_delimited_data
FIELDS TERMINATED BY "," OPTIONALLY ENCLOSED BY '"'
TRAILING NULLCOLS
( data1,
data2
)
BEGINDATA
11111,AAAAAAAAAA
22222,"A,B,C,D,"
If you need to load positional data (fixed length), look at the following
control file example:
LOAD DATA
INFILE *
INTO TABLE load_positional_data
( data1 POSITION(1:5),
data2 POSITION(6:15)
)
BEGINDATA
11111AAAAAAAAAA
22222BBBBBBBBBB
Can one skip header records load while loading?
Use the "SKIP n" keyword, where n = number of logical rows to skip.
LOAD DATA
INFILE *
INTO TABLE load_positional_data
SKIP 5
( data1 POSITION(1:5),
data2 POSITION(6:15)
)
BEGINDATA
11111AAAAAAAAAA
22222BBBBBBBBBB
880. Can one modify data as it loads into the database? (for
DBA
Data can be modified as it loads into the Oracle Database. Note that
this only applies for the conventional load path and not for direct path
loads.
Page 136 of 153

LOAD DATA
INFILE *
INTO TABLE modified_data
( rec_no "my_db_sequence.nextval",
region CONSTANT '31',
time_loaded "to_char(SYSDATE, 'HH24:MI')",
data1 POSITION(1:5) ":data1/100",
data2 POSITION(6:15) "upper(:data2)",
data3 POSITION(16:22)"to_date(:data3, 'YYMMDD')"
)
BEGINDATA
11111AAAAAAAAAA991201
22222BBBBBBBBBB990112
LOAD DATA
INFILE 'mail_orders.txt'
BADFILE 'bad_orders.txt'
APPEND
INTO TABLE mailing_list
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ","
( addr,
city,
state,
zipcode,
mailing_addr "decode(:mailing_addr, null, :addr, :mailing_addr)",
mailing_city "decode(:mailing_city, null, :city, :mailing_city)",
mailing_state
)
881.Can one load data into multiple tables at once? (for DBA
Look at the following control file:
LOAD DATA
INFILE *
REPLACE
INTO TABLE emp
WHEN empno != ' '
( empno POSITION(1:4) INTEGER EXTERNAL,
ename POSITION(6:15) CHAR,
deptno POSITION(17:18) CHAR,
mgr POSITION(20:23) INTEGER EXTERNAL
)
INTO TABLE proj
WHEN projno != ' '
( projno POSITION(25:27) INTEGER EXTERNAL,
empno POSITION(1:4) INTEGER EXTERNAL
)
882. What is the difference between boiler plat images and
image items?
Page 137 of 153

Boiler plate Images are static images (Either vector or bit map) that
you import from the file system or database to use a graphical
elements in your form, such as company logos and maps. Image items
are special types of interface controls that store and display either
vector or bitmap images. Like other items that store values, image
items can be either base table items(items that relate directly to
database columns) or control items. The definition of an image item is
stored as part of the form module FMB and FMX files, but no image file
is actually associated with an image item until the item is populate at
run time.
883. What are the triggers available in the reports?
Before report, Before form, After form , Between page, After report.
884. Why is a Where clause faster than a group filter or a

format trigger?
Because, in a where clause the condition is applied during data
retrievalthan after retrieving the data.
885. Can one selectively load only the records that one need?
(for DBA
Look at this example, (01) is the first character, (30:37) are characters
30 to 37:
LOAD DATA
INFILE 'mydata.dat' BADFILE 'mydata.bad' DISCARDFILE 'mydata.dis'
APPEND
INTO TABLE my_selective_table
WHEN (01) <> 'H' and (01) <> 'T' and (30:37) = '19991217'
(
region CONSTANT '31',
service_key POSITION(01:11) INTEGER EXTERNAL,
call_b_no POSITION(12:29) CHAR
)
886. Can one skip certain columns while loading data? (for DBA
One cannot use POSTION(x:y) with delimited data. Luckily, from Oracle
8i one can specify FILLER columns. FILLER columns are used to skip
columns/fields in the load file, ignoring fields that one does not want.
Look at this example: -- One cannot use POSTION(x:y) as it is stream
data, there are no positional fields-the next field begins after some
delimiter, not in column X. -->
LOAD DATA
TRUNCATE INTO TABLE T1
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ','
( field1,
field2 FILLER,
field3
)
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887. How does one load multi-line records? (for DBA
One can create one logical record from multiple physical records using
one of the following two clauses:
. CONCATENATE: - use when SQL*Loader should combine the same
number of physical records together to form one logical record.
. CONTINUEIF - use if a condition indicates that multiple records should
be treated as one. Eg. by having a '#' character in column 1.
889. How can get SQL*Loader to COMMIT only at the end of the
load file? (for DBA
One cannot, but by setting the ROWS= parameter to a large value,
committing can be reduced. Make sure you have big rollback segments
ready when you use a high value for ROWS=.
890. Can one improve the performance of SQL*Loader? (for

DBA
A very simple but easily overlooked hint is not to have any indexes
and/or constraints (primary key) on your load tables during the load
process. This will significantly slow down load times even with ROWS=
set to a high value.
Add the following option in the command line: DIRECT=TRUE. This will
effectively bypass most of the RDBMS processing. However, there are
cases when you can't use direct load. Refer to chapter 8 on Oracle
server Utilities manual.
Turn off database logging by specifying the UNRECOVERABLE option.
This option can only be used with direct data loads. Run multiple load
jobs concurrently.
891. How does one use SQL*Loader to load images, sound clips
and documents? (for DBA
SQL*Loader can load data from a "primary data file", SDF (Secondary
Data file - for loading nested tables and VARRAYs) or LOGFILE. The
LOBFILE method provides and easy way to load documents, images
and audio clips into BLOB and CLOB columns. Look at this example:
Given the following table:
CREATE TABLE image_table (
image_id NUMBER(5),
file_name VARCHAR2(30),
image_data BLOB);
Control File:
LOAD DATA
INFILE *
INTO TABLE image_table
REPLACE
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ','
(
image_id INTEGER(5),
file_name CHAR(30),
Page 139 of 153

image_data LOBFILE (file_name) TERMINATED BY EOF
)
BEGINDATA
001,image1.gif
002,image2.jpg
892. What is the difference between the conventional and

direct path loader? (for DBA
The conventional path loader essentially loads the data by using
standard INSERT statements. The direct path loader (DIRECT=TRUE)
bypasses much of the logic involved with that, and loads directly into
the Oracle data files. More information about the restrictions of direct
path loading can be obtained from the Utilities Users Guide.
GENERAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (1)
1.What are the various types of Exceptions ?
User defined and Predefined Exceptions.
2.Can we define exceptions twice in same block ?

No.
3.What is the difference between a procedure and a function ?

Functions return a single variable by value whereas procedures do not
return any variable by value. Rather they return multiple variables by
passing variables by reference through their OUT parameter.
4.Can you have two functions with the same name in a PL/SQL
block ?
Yes.
5.Can you have two stored functions with the same name ?
Yes.
6.Can you call a stored function in the constraint of a table ?

No.
7.What are the various types of parameter modes in a

procedure ?
IN, OUT AND INOUT.
8.What is Over Loading and what are its restrictions ?

OverLoading means an object performing different functions
depending upon the no. of parameters or the data type of the
parameters passed to it.
9.Can functions be overloaded ?

Yes.
Page 140 of 153

10.Can 2 functions have same name & input parameters but
differ only by return datatype
No.
11.What are the constructs of a procedure, function or a

package ?
The constructs of a procedure, function or a package are :
variables and constants
cursors
exceptions
12.Why Create or Replace and not Drop and recreate

procedures ?
So that Grants are not dropped.
13.Can you pass parameters in packages ? How ?

Yes. You can pass parameters to procedures or functions in a package.
14.What are the parts of a database trigger ?

The parts of a trigger are:
A triggering event or statement
A trigger restriction
A trigger action
15.What are the various types of database triggers ?

There are 12 types of triggers, they are combination of :
Insert, Delete and Update Triggers.
Before and After Triggers.
Row and Statement Triggers.
(3*2*2=12)
16.What is the advantage of a stored procedure over a
database trigger ?
We have control over the firing of a stored procedure but we have no
control over the firing of a trigger.
17.What is the maximum no. of statements that can be

specified in a trigger statement ?
One.
18.Can views be specified in a trigger statement ?

No
19.What are the values of :new and :old in

Insert/Delete/Update Triggers ?
INSERT : new = new value, old = NULL
DELETE : new = NULL, old = old value
UPDATE : new = new value, old = old value
Page 141 of 153

20.What are cascading triggers? What is the maximum no of
cascading triggers at a time?
When a statement in a trigger body causes another trigger to be fired,
the triggers are said to be cascading. Max = 32.
21.What are mutating triggers ?

A trigger giving a SELECT on the table on which the trigger is written.
22.What are constraining triggers ?

A trigger giving an Insert/Updat e on a table having referential integrity
constraint on the triggering table.
23.Describe Oracle database's physical and logical structure ?

Physical : Data files, Redo Log files, Control file.
Logical : Tables, Views, Tablespaces, etc.
24.Can you increase the size of a tablespace ? How ?

Yes, by adding datafiles to it.
26.What is the use of Control files ?

Contains pointers to locations of various data files, redo log files, etc.
27.What is the use of Data Dictionary ?

Used by Oracle to store information about various physical and logical
Oracle structures e.g. Tables, Tablespaces, datafiles, etc
28.What are the advantages of clusters ?

Access time reduced for joins.
29.What are the disadvantages of clusters ?

The time for Insert increases.
30.Can Long/Long RAW be clustered ?

No.
31.Can null keys be entered in cluster index, normal index ?
Yes.
32.Can Check constraint be used for self referential integrity ?

How ?
Yes. In the CHECK condition for a column of a table, we can reference
some other column of the same table and thus enforce self referential
integrity.
33.What are the min. extents allocated to a rollback extent ?

Two
34.What are the states of a rollback segment ? What is the

difference between partly available and needs recovery ?
Page 142 of 153

The various states of a rollback segment are :
ONLINE, OFFLINE, PARTLY AVAILABLE, NEEDS RECOVERY and INVALID.
35.What is the difference between unique key and primary key

?
Unique key can be null; Primary key cannot be null.
36.An insert statement followed by a create table statement

followed by rollback ? Will the rows be inserted ?
No.
37.Can you define multiple savepoints ?

Yes.
38.Can you Rollback to any savepoint ?

Yes.
40.What is the maximum no. of columns a table can have ?

254.
41.What is the significance of the & and && operators in PL

SQL ?
The & operator means that the PL SQL block requires user input for a
variable. The && operator means that the value of this variable should
be the same as inputted by the user previously for this same variable.
If a transaction is very large, and the rollback segment is not able to
hold the rollback information, then will the transaction span across
different rollback segments or will it terminate ? It will terminate
(Please check ).
42.Can you pass a parameter to a cursor ?

Explicit cursors can take parameters, as the example below shows. A
cursor parameter can appear in a query wherever a constant can
appear. CURSOR c1 (median IN NUMBER) IS SELECT job, ename FROM
emp WHERE sal > median;
43.What are the various types of RollBack Segments ?

Public Available to all instances
Private Available to specific instance
44.Can you use %RowCount as a parameter to a cursor ?
Yes
45.Is the query below allowed :

Select sal, ename Into x From emp Where ename = 'KING'
(Where x is a record of Number(4) and Char(15))
Yes
Page 143 of 153

46.Is the assignment given below allowed :
ABC = PQR (Where ABC and PQR are records)
Yes
47.Is this for loop allowed :

For x in &Start..&End Loop
Yes
48.How many rows will the following SQL return :

Select * from emp Where rownum < 10;
9 rows
49.How many rows will the following SQL return :

Select * from emp Where rownum = 10;
No rows
50.Which symbol preceeds the path to the table in the remote

database ?
@
51.Are views automatically updated when base tables are

updated ?
Yes
52.Can a trigger written for a view ?

No
53.If all the values from a cursor have been fetched and
another fetch is issued, the output will be : error, last record
or first record ?
Last Record
54.A table has the following data : [[5, Null, 10]]. What will the
average function return ?
7.5
55.Is Sysdate a system variable or a system function?

System Function
56.Consider a sequence whose currval is 1 and gets

incremented by 1 by using the nextval reference we get the
next number 2. Suppose at this point we issue an rollback and
again issue a nextval. What will the output be ?
3
56.Definition of relational DataBase by Dr. Codd (IBM)?
Page 144 of 153

A Relational Database is a database where all data visible to the user is
organized strictly as tables of data values and where all database
operations work on these tables.
57.What is Multi Threaded Server (MTA) ?

In a Single Threaded Architecture (or a dedicated server configuration)
the database manager creates a separate process for each database
user. But in MTA the database manager can assign multiple users
(multiple user processes) to a single dispatcher (server process), a
controlling process that queues request for work thus reducing the
databases memory requirement and resources.
58.Which are initial RDBMS, Hierarchical & N/w database ?

RDBMS - R system
Hierarchical - IMS
N/W - DBTG
60.What is Functional Dependency

Given a relation R, attribute Y of R is functionally dependent on
attribute X of R if and only if each X-value has associated with it
precisely one -Y value in R
61.What is Auditing ?
The database has the ability to audit all actions that take place within
it.
a) Login attempts, b) Object Accesss, c) Database Action Result of
Greatest(1,NULL) or Least(1,NULL) NULL
62.While designing in client/server what are the 2 imp. things

to be considered ?
Network Overhead (traffic), Speed and Load of client server
64.When to create indexes ?

To be created when table is queried for less than 2% or 4% to 25% of
the table rows.
65.How can you avoid indexes ?

TO make index access path unavailable - Use FULL hint to optimizer for
full table scan - Use INDEX or AND-EQUAL hint to optimizer to use one
index or set to indexes instead of another. - Use an expression in the
Where Clause of the SQL.
66.What is the result of the following SQL :

Select 1 from dual
UNION
Select 'A' from dual;
Error
Page 145 of 153

67.Can database trigger written on synonym of a table and if it
can be then what would be the effect if original table is
accessed.
Yes, database trigger would fire.
68.Can you alter synonym of view or view ?

No
69.Can you create index on view

No
70.What is the difference between a view and a synonym ?

Synonym is just a second name of table used for multiple link of
database. View can be created with many tables, and with virtual
columns and with conditions. But synonym can be on view.
71.What is the difference between alias and synonym ?

Alias is temporary and used with one query. Synonym is permanent
and not used as alias.
72.What is the effect of synonym and table name used in same

Select statement ?
Valid
73.What's the length of SQL integer ?

32 bit length
74.What is the difference between foreign key and reference

key ?
Foreign key is the key i.e. attribute which refers to another table
primary key. Reference key is the primary key of table referred by
another table.
75.Can dual table be deleted, dropped or altered or updated or

inserted ?
Yes
76.If content of dual is updated to some value computation

takes place or not ?
Yes
77.If any other table same as dual is created would it act

similar to dual?
Yes
78.For which relational operators in where clause, index is not

used ?
<> , like '% ...' is NOT functions, field +constant, field || ''
Page 146 of 153

79.Assume that there are multiple databases running on one
machine. How can you switch from one to another ?
Changing the ORACLE_SID
80.What are the advantages of Oracle ?

Portability : Oracle is ported to more platforms than any of its
competitors, running on more than 100 hardware platforms and 20
networking protocols.
Market Presence : Oracle is by far the largest RDBMS vendor and
spends more on R & D than most of its competitors earn in total
revenue. This market clout means that you are unlikely to be left in the
lurch by Oracle and there are always lots of third party interfaces
available.
Backup and Recovery : Oracle provides industrial strength support for
on-line backup and recovery and good software fault tolerence to disk
failure. You can also do point-in-time recovery.
Performance : Speed of a 'tuned' Oracle Database and application is
quite good, even with large databases. Oracle can manage > 100GB
databases.
Multiple database support : Oracle has a superior ability to manage
multiple databases within the same transaction using a two-phase
commit protocol.
81.What is a forward declaration ? What is its use ?

PL/SQL requires that you declare an identifier before using it.
Therefore, you must declare a subprogram before calling it. This
declaration at the start of a subprogram is called forward declaration.
A forward declaration consists of a subprogram specification
terminated by a semicolon.
82.What are actual and formal parameters ?

Actual Parameters : Subprograms pass information using parameters.
The variables or expressions referenced in the parameter list of a
subprogram call are actual parameters. For example, the following
procedure call lists two actual parameters named emp_num and
amount:
Eg. raise_salary(emp_num, amount);
Formal Parameters : The variables declared in a subprogram
specification and referenced in the subprogram body are formal
parameters. For example, the following procedure declares two formal
parameters named emp_id and increase: Eg. PROCEDURE raise_salary
(emp_id INTEGER, increase REAL) IS current_salary REAL;
83.What are the types of Notation ?
Position, Named, Mixed and Restrictions.
84.What all important parameters of the init.ora are supposed

to be increased if you want to increase the SGA size ?
Page 147 of 153

In our case, db_block_buffers was changed from 60 to 1000 (std values
are 60, 550 & 3500) shared_pool_size was changed from 3.5MB to 9MB
(std values are 3.5, 5 & 9MB) open_cursors was changed from 200 to
300 (std values are 200 & 300) db_block_size was changed from 2048
(2K) to 4096 (4K) {at the time of database creation}.
The initial SGA was around 4MB when the server RAM was 32MB and
The new SGA was around 13MB when the server RAM was increased to
128MB.
85.If I have an execute privilege on a procedure in another

users schema, can I execute his procedure even though I do
not have privileges on the tables within the procedure ?
Yes
86.What are various types of joins ?

Equijoins, Non-equijoins, self join, outer join
87.What is a package cursor ?

A package cursor is a cursor which you declare in the package
specification without an SQL statement. The SQL statement for the
cursor is attached dynamically at runtime from calling procedures.
88.If you insert a row in a table, then create another table and
then say Rollback. In this case will the row be inserted ?
Yes. Because Create table is a DDL which commits automatically as
soon as it is executed. The DDL commits the transaction even if the
create statement fails internally (eg table already exists error) and not
syntactically.
89.What are the various types of queries ??

Normal Queries
Sub Queries
Co-related queries
Nested queries
Compound queries
90.What is a transaction ?
A transaction is a set of SQL statements between any two COMMIT and
ROLLBACK statements.
91.What is implicit cursor and how is it used by Oracle ?

An implicit cursor is a cursor which is internally created by Oracle. It is
created by Oracle for each individual SQL.
92.Which of the following is not a schema object : Indexes,

tables, public synonyms, triggers and packages ?
Public synonyms
Page 148 of 153

94.What is PL/SQL?
PL/SQL is Oracle's Procedural Language extension to SQL. The
language includes object oriented programming techniques such as
encapsulation, function overloading, information hiding (all but
inheritance), and so, brings state-of-the-art programming to the Oracle
database server and a variety of Oracle tools.
95.Is there a PL/SQL Engine in SQL*Plus?

No. Unlike Oracle Forms, SQL*Plus does not have a PL/SQL engine.
Thus, all your PL/SQL are send directly to the database engine for
execution. This makes it much more efficient as SQL statements are
not stripped off and send to the database individually.
96.Is there a limit on the size of a PL/SQL block?

Currently, the maximum parsed/compiled size of a PL/SQL block is 64K
and the maximum code size is 100K. You can run the following select
statement to query the size of an existing package or procedure.
SQL> select * from dba_object_size where name = 'procedure_name'
97.Can one read/write files from PL/SQL?

Included in Oracle 7.3 is a UTL_FILE package that can read and write
files. The directory you intend writing to has to be in your INIT.ORA file
(see UTL_FILE_DIR=... parameter). Before Oracle 7.3 the only means of
writing a file was to use DBMS_OUTPUT with the SQL*Plus SPOOL
command.
DECLARE
fileHandler UTL_FILE.FILE_TYPE;
BEGIN
fileHandler := UTL_FILE.FOPEN('/home/oracle/tmp', 'myoutput','W');
UTL_FILE.PUTF(fileHandler, 'Value of func1 is %sn', func1(1));
UTL_FILE.FCLOSE(fileHandler);
END;
98.How can I protect my PL/SQL source code?

PL/SQL V2.2, available with Oracle7.2, implements a binary wrapper for
PL/SQL programs to protect the source code. This is done via a
standalone utility that transforms the PL/SQL source code into portable
binary object code (somewhat larger than the original). This way you
can distribute software without having to worry about exposing your
proprietary algorithms and methods. SQL*Plus and SQL*DBA will still
understand and know how to execute such scripts. Just be careful,
there is no "decode" command available.
The syntax is:
wrap iname=myscript.sql oname=xxxx.yyy
99.Can one use dynamic SQL within PL/SQL? OR Can you use a
DDL in a procedure ? How ?
Page 149 of 153

From PL/SQL V2.1 one can use the DBMS_SQL package to execute
dynamic SQL statements.
Eg: CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE DYNSQL
AS
cur integer;
rc integer;
BEGIN
cur := DBMS_SQL.OPEN_CURSOR;
DBMS_SQL.PARSE(cur,'CREATE TABLE X (Y DATE)', DBMS_SQL.NATIVE);
rc := DBMS_SQL.EXECUTE(cur);
DBMS_SQL.CLOSE_CURSOR(cur);
END;
Oracel Interview Question Only (1)
• What is Referential Integrity rule? Differentiate between
• Delete & Truncate command.
• Implicit Cursor & Explicit Cursor.
• Ref. key & Foreign key.
• Where & Having Clause.
• What are various kinds of Integrity Constraints in Oracle?
• What are various kind of joins?
• What is Raise_Application_Error?
• What are various kinds of exceptions in Oracle?
• Normal Forms
• What is meant by Scrollable cursor?
• The use of HAVING , WHERE and GROUPBY in one SQL?
• What is meant by SORTING and GROUPING?
• What are the different types of OUTER JOINS?
• Explain the UNION operation in SQL . What is meant by OUTER
JOIN?
• What is a Non- corelated subquery?
• What is a corelated subquery?
• What do you know about subqueries?
• What is the theory behind the JOIN statement in DB2?
• What are the different types of SQL?
• How to drop the column in a table?
• How to drop the index?
• What are the different tablespaces in database?
• What is the maximum number of triggers, can apply to a single
table?
• What is the output of SIGN function?
• What are the more common pseudo-columns?
• Other way to replace query result null value with a text?
• What are PL/SQL Cursor Exceptions?
• Any three PL/SQL Exceptions?
• Any three PL/SQL Exceptions?
• Which date function returns number value?
• Display Odd/ Even number of records?
Page 150 of 153

• Display the number value in Words?
• To view installed Oracle version information?
• Find out nth highest salary from emp table?
• Implicit Cursor attributes?
• Explicit Cursor attributes?
• Display the records between two range I know the nvl function
only allows the same data type(ie. number or char or date
Nvl(comm, 0)), if commission is null then the text Not Applicable
want to display, instead of blank space. How do I write the
query???
• How do I display row number with records?
• How do I eliminate the duplicate rows?
• If a view on a single base table is manipulated will the changes
be reflected on the base table?
• If Yes - under what conditions?
• Can a view be updated/inserted/deleted?
• What are the advantages of VIEW?
•
• What is CYCLE/NO CYCLE in a Sequence?
• Is it possible to access the current value in a session before
accessing next value?
• How to access the current value and next value from a
sequence?
• What is a database link?
• If unique key constraint on DATE column is created, will it
validate the rows that are inserted with SYSDATE?
• How will you activate/deactivate integrity constraints?
• Where the integrity constraints are stored in data dictionary?
• What are the pre-requisites to modify datatype of a column and
to add a column with NOT NULL constraint?
• Is it possible to use LONG columns in WHERE clause or ORDER
BY?
• How many LONG columns are allowed in a table?
• What is the maximum SIZE allowed for each type?
• What is difference between CHAR and VARCHAR2?
• What are the data types allowed in a table?
• What is ON DELETE CASCADE?
• What is the usage of SAVEPOINTS?
• What is referential integrity constraint?
• What is an integrity constraint?
• What is the fastest way of accessing a row in a table?
• What is ROWID?
• Explain UNION, MINUS, UNION ALL and INTERSECT?
• Difference between SUBSTR and INSTR?
• Explain CONNECT BY PRIOR?
• What is correlated sub-query?
• What is the sub-query?
Page 151 of 153

• Explain the different types of joins?
• What is a join?
• What is difference between TRUNCATE & DELETE?
• What is a transaction?
• What are the types of SQL statement?
• Which datatype is used for storing graphics and images?
• LONG RAW data type is used for storing BLOB's (binary large
objects).?
• What is a pseudo column. Give some examples?
• It is a column that is not an actual column in the table?
• eg USER, UID, SYSDATE, ROWNUM, ROWID, NULL, AND LEVEL.?
• What are the differences you have seen while installing Oracle
on NT and Unix platform?
• What utility is used to create a logical backup? export
• What are the differences between database designing and
database modeling?
• If the large table contains thousands of records and the
application is accessing 35% of the table which method to use:
index searching or full table scan?
• In which situation whether peak time or off peak time you will
execute the ANALYZE TABLE command. Why?
• How to check to memory gap once the SGA is started in
Restricted mode?
• All the users are complaining that their application is hanging.
How you will resolve this situation in OLTP?
• If the SQL * Plus hangs for a long time, what is the reason?
• Shall we create procedures to fetch more than one record?
• How do you increase the performance of %LIKE operator?
• You are regularly changing the package body part. How will you
create or what will you do before creating that package?
• How can you see the source code of the package?
• Dual table explain. Is any data internally storing in dual table. Lot
of users are accessing select sysdate from dual and they getting
some millisecond differences. If we execute SELECT SYSDATE
FROM EMP; what error will we get. Why?
• In exception handling we have some NOT_FOUND and OTHERS.
In inner layer we have some NOT_FOUND and OTHERS. While
executing which one whether outer layer or inner layer will check
first?
• What is mutated trigger, is it the problem of locks. In single user
mode we got mutated error, as a DBA how you will resolve it?
• Schema A has some objects and created one procedure and
granted to Schema B. Schema B has the same objects like
schema A. Schema B executed the procedure like inserting some
records. In this case where the data will be stored whether in
Schema A or Schema B?
• What is bulk SQL?
• How to do the scheduled task/jobs in Unix platform?
Page 152 of 153

• If the entire disk is corrupted how will you and what are the steps
to recover the database?
• How will you monitor rollback segment status?
• List the sequence of events when a large transaction that
exceeds beyond its optimal value when an entry wraps and
causes the rollback segment to expand into another extend?
• What is redo log file mirroring?
• How can we plan storage for very large tables
• When will be a segment released ?
• What are disadvantages of having raw devices?
• List the factors that can affect the accuracy of the estima?
• What is the difference between $$DATE$$ & $$DBDATE$$$
$DBDATE$$ retrieves the current database date$$date$$
retrieves the current operating system
• How to prevent unauthorized use of privileges granted to a
Role ?
• What is a deadlock and Explain?
• What are the basic element of base configuration of an Oracle
database?
• What is an index and How it is implemented in Oracle database?
• What is the use of redo log information?
• What is a schema?
• What is Parallel Server?
• What is a database instance and Explain?
• What is a datafile?
• What is a temporary segment?
• What are the uses of rollback segment
Page 153 of 153

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1.

What are the components of physical database structure of

2. What are the components of logical database structure of

4. What is SYSTEM tablespace and when is it created?

5. Explain the relationship among database, tablespace and

7. What are Schema Objects?

8. Can objects of the same schema reside in different

9. Can a tablespace hold objects from different schemes?

10. What is Oracle table?

11. What is an Oracle view?

12. What is Mirrored on-line Redo Log ?

13. What is Full Backup ?

14. Can a View based on another View ?

15. Can a Tablespace hold objects from different Schemes ?

16. Can objects of the same Schema reside in different

17. What is the use of Control File ?

18. Do View contain Data ?

19. What are the Referential actions supported by FOREIGN

20. What are the type of Synonyms?

22. What is an Index Segment ?

23. Explain the relationship among Database, Tablespace and

24. What are the different type of Segments ?

25. What are Clusters ?

26. What is an Integrity Constrains ?

27. What is an Index ?

28. What is an Extent ?

29. What is a View ?

30. What is Table ?

32. What are the advantages of views?

34. What is a synonym?

35. What are the types of synonyms?

36. What is a private synonym?

37. What is a public synonym?

38. What are synonyms used for?

39. What is an Oracle index?

40. How are the index updates?

42. What is Rollback Segment ?

43. What are the Characteristics of Data Files ?

44. How to define Data Block size ?

45. What does a Control file Contain ?

46.What is difference between UNIQUE constraint and

47.What is Index Cluster ?

48.When does a Transaction end ?

49. What is the effect of setting the value "ALL_ROWS" for

50. What is the effect of setting the value "CHOOSE" for

52. What database block size should I use? (for DBA)

53. What are the different approaches used by Optimizer in

54. What does ROLLBACK do ?

How does one coalesce free space?(for DBA)

55. How does one prevent tablespace fragmentation? (for DBA)

57. What is COST-based approach to optimization ?

58. What does COMMIT do ?

59. How are extents allocated to a segment? (for DBA)

62. What is Read-Only Transaction ?

63. What is a deadlock ? Explain .

64. What is a Schema ?

65. What is a cluster Key ?

66. What is Parallel Server ?

67. What are the basic element of Base configuration of an

69. What is an Index ? How it is implemented in Oracle

70. What is a Database instance ? Explain

71. WWhat is the use of ANALYZE command ?

72. What is default tablespace ?